A White Eagle In A Strange Land
by WoodenAuto
Summary: During World War II, a Polish partisan is killed in a raid against a mysterious German weapons facility. But that's not the end of his story, in fact, it's only the beginning. Introducing Jarek Gniewek, the story of a boy fighting for his home, and so much more. Disclaimer; Romance is not a main feature and many OC's. Thanks to my friend and co-author Abiectio.
1. There It All Began

_**Chapter 1:**_ _ **There It All Began**_

 _Nazi Occupied Poland, Spring 1944, Operation: Secret Thunder (Part of Operation: Tempest)_

It's late at night within the thick forest of Nazi Occupied Poland. A hundred armed partisans of the Home Army's Scout Assault Group: Zniwiarz and OSS agents are gearing up and preparing for a raid of the top-secret Nazi facility known as 'Das Schachten'. The Allies have no idea what the hell is going on in that concrete fortress or why it is such a heavily guarded secret. However, reports say that the Nazis have been experimenting with some mysterious substance that could turn the tide of the war in their favor.

On a tree nearby, a young but battle hardened partisan of seventeen and a half years, Jarek Gniewek, was sleeping. Jarek was one of the youngest partisans in the Battalion.

A slim 5'10 tan-tinted kid, he's been a member of the Resistance ever since the Nazis came and killed everyone in his hometown that didn't look Aryan back in '39. He may be the youngest partisan in the whole battalion, but he's one of the most feared by the Nazis and the Polish collaborators. He's been responsible for more Nazi deaths than any other partisan in the battalion. He has performed countless assassinations, sabotage missions, and has prevented and/or avenged many Nazi atrocities against the Polish people. So feared was were his actions, the Nazis had nicknamed him 'White Lightning' or 'Weissblitz' as the Hitlerites call him for his speed and efficiency that rivals any dedicated SS soldier, not to mention his interesting emblem of three lightning bolts woven through a Kotwica, the emblem of the Polish Resistance.

He's wearing a worn burlap overcoat with a custom AK armband, regular padded trousers, some boots and short puttees he helped stitched himself. Not to mention his special black scarf with lightning bolt patterns that he used to conceal his face and identity from those who live to encounter him. He's armed with a Tokarev TT-33, a hatchet, and a Błyskawica with a removable silencer which he had acquired during a mission to Warsaw to salvage an ammo drop that was captured by the Nazis and scheduled to be destroyed. It was one of the spoils of war. This one happened to be a prototype that some tinkerer nerd came up with.

'Hey Jarek, wake up buddy.' His friend Jozef said, giving him a good nudge to wake him up. Jarek grunted and slowly got himself up, groggy from sleep.

'What the hell is it Jozef? Couldn't you see that I'm busy?' He croaked out grumpily. Jozef could not help but smile and cackle at his friend's "busyness."

'So you're busy sleeping?' he asked sarcastically, before he stood up and walked away in the opposite direction. 'Come on, you're going to miss the briefing. The commander says we begin the attack!' Jarek reluctantly picked himself up, stretched his legs for a bit, picked up his weapons, and followed Jozef to where the group of partisans are huddled together, crouched down and looking at a battle plan sketched in the dirt with a twig. But while they were moving towards the briefing, a sudden rush of anxiety rained down upon the partisans, as if they were being warned something was wrong.

'So, Jarek. Any idea what you're going to do after the war?' Jozef asked his infamous friend.

'I'm not sure. I fear that the Russians will come and we'll all be Communists or imprisoned. I guess that I'll go to America. Chicago, perhaps. There's a large Polish population there and they even speak Polish!' He chuckled at his own comment. 'But hopefully we can kick out the Germans before then and we can rebuild our country once again. That is assuming that we're still alive at the end of it.'

'I hope," Was all that Jozef said. So many thoughts flowed within him that he was overloaded and was all he could say before the raid that would hopefully give Poland the means to be free once more.

'Alright everyone," The Polish OSS agent announced to the battle hardened brigade while they all moved in. 'We all know why we're here. According to our government in London, the Nazis are experimenting with some mysterious substance that might win the war for them. That is, if we don't stop them first. This base is known to the Krauts as 'Der Rattenschatten'. It's pretty much a bunch of concrete buildings all cobbled together with a huge barbed wire fence around it. It's also protected by trenches with machine gun emplacements, barbed wire, mines, a few anti-tank guns, and a whole lot of sentries. In other words, it's a huge fortress. The only flaw is that they haven't been attacked, and thereby tested, not yet at least.'

Then the Brigade Commander, General Kalkstein, took charge of the briefing. 'Okay, let's get straight to the point, lads. 1st and 2nd Mortar squad is going to set up their position here.' He got a twig and sketched out two 'x's on the dirt map some distance in front of the Schatten while the rest of us takes up positions around the facility under the cover of darkness. All the while the Krauts are distracted by a Black Widow from the sky, should keep them looking' up. Once the mortars start unleashing hell, were going to launch our attack. Our goal is nothing less than the total destruction of this facility. Then we get the hell out of here. Any questions?'

There were none. Everyone knew what they had to do. Many of the fighters had been well trained by Kalkstein, most of them had been the Pre-War Polish Army and were well experienced in combat.

'Good, now let's get some revenge.'

Jarek and Jozef crawled down in the bushes within several feet of the front gate of Schatten, waiting for the signal where they sat for many long minutes. The anticipation was unbearable, but Jarek was used to it. He had had one too many of these kind of operations against the Nazis he hated so much. He absolutely hated the Nazis, any kind of Nazis, but in particular the SS. The SS were the ones who had slaughtered his friends, raped and killed his mother in front of him and had attempted to assimilate him into the 'Greater German Reich' whatever the hell that was. However, he managed to escape before that plan was implemented, and he has been on the run from the Nazis ever since, wanted for 'murdering' a German soldier in self-defense, at least the first one he killed.

'What the hell's taking them so long?' loudly whispered Jozef, holding his MG42 in place. His arms were getting all jittery. He had only been in the Home Army for little over a year, his mind still not shell-shocked by the horrors of war.

'Calm down, they'll show.' Jarek said. A few seconds later, what seemed like an eternity, a thundering whistle sound erupted throughout the air as the expected mortar fire erupted in the air and exploded throughout the facility. The ensuing fire spread panic and fear throughout the facility. They were caught completely off guard, obviously never having expected to be attacked with such firepower. For once, Jarek sees the Nazis screaming in fear and trying to get their bearings. _Way to go, guys, send 'em to hell!_ Jarek thought.

The attack began as the one hundred armed fighters charged through all the main gates and shot any Nazi that stood in their way with sheer, ruthless efficiency. It was difficult to see in the thick of the night and smoke, but the lights of fire and the natural lights of the facility made it easier for the fighters to see. Jarek and Jozef stormed into the facility, Jozef's Buzzsaw ripped anyone up. Eventually the partisans reached their main objective, the main concrete building known as 'Wunderland', The place rumored to be the location of all the experiments taking place. Whatever the Fascists are doing, it's not good, and must be wiped clean from the face of the earth.

The main body of partisans approached the door of Wunderland in a semi circle formation. It was made out of thick steel and couldn't be opened from the outside. But the partisans anticipated this and the OSS agents had brought in specialized explosives designed to breach thick steel door. One of the agents planted the specialized the explosive near the hinges of the door, primed them, and placed the fuse in the detonator. Everyone immediately stood clear of the doorway, and a few seconds later the device exploded, throwing the door inwards by twenty feet. _This is easy._ Thought Jarek, _Too easy._

Almost immediately, the Partisans stormed into the building, Jarek being the first one in, all there was initially were a few office workers, employees of the SS, who were doing some paperwork before the explosion happened. They were so shocked that they gave up without a fight and waved their hands up in defeat despite the blasphemy that is surrender according to their ideology. Jarek, Jozef and the partisans stormed in the building and found a hell of a lot of evidence of what was going on there.

There were a lot of jars full of strange sand like substances labeled 'ACHTUNG! STAUB, SEHR GEFAEHRLICH!' This highly confused Jarek, knowing German fluently, Staub is the German word for 'Dust'. What the hell are the Krauts up to? Are they collecting the particles that annoy us every day to win the war? Is that their great plan?

As they continued to search the facility, it quickly became more apparent that the Nazis were up to something weird when they found mysterious weapons laid across several huge lab tables, all colorful and mysterious, with various symbols accompanying them. Eventually, Jarek reached another lab with a figure with white hair, a Nazi armband, and a doctor's overcoat was overseeing a strange device that was implanted onto the floor. Jarek raised his submachine gun at the figure.

'Hands up, swine! Your plans here are finished!' He shouted in German. 'This facility now belongs to the Home Army and the Polish People. You are now under arrest.' The figure gave no reaction but to turn around casually and revealed a German in his sixties, with wrinkles all over his face. Yet his face bore the sinister smile of a madman.

'My, my, my. I cannot believe that my plan has worked.' the mad doctor said. 'The White Lightning is here in my laboratory. What an unexpected surprise, after all of the damage you have done to the Reich and my Fuhrer's plan for world domination. It only took a ploy to lure you and your so called "Army" How many soldiers have you killed? Too many to count I suppose. By the way, allow me to introduce myself. I am Doktor Gunther von Stein, and I've been waiting for you.' The man paused for a brief chuckle as if the facts were amusing. This made Jarek's blood boil.

'Shut up!' he shouted. 'Drop your weapon and surrender. You have no chance, Herr Doktor,' this so called 'Doctor' ignored Jareks demands for a surrender.

'Well I guess it cannot hurt to tell you a bit. All of these Jars and weapons you see here is our shot of victory over the Allies. These weapons are more powerful than you can possibly fathom! And now you will die from them.' Suddenly he pulled out his Luger and fired a round into one of the jars, which exploded into a massive fireball and everything for Jarek faded to blank white. It would seem to be an abrupt end to the young life of the freedom fighter. Where he would only exist in the pages of a history book in an obscure sentence. However, like many times before throughout history, in time and memorial, fate never goes by anyone's schedule.

 _Five Years Ago… August 1939_

" _Dad, where are you going?" The young Jarek asked as his Father, Orzel Gniewek, as he donned his officer's uniform of the Polish Army inside their family's cabin. Orzel had been in the army since 1919 and stayed there ever since as an officer for twenty quiet years._

" _Jarek, my boy. I've been called up to service once more. Those Nazis and Reds are going to invade our motherland any day now." He explained to his son in unaccented English. It's quite strange for anyone around his town to speak English. In fact, he's the only one who speaks it apart from his son and his wife, of which he taught them both to speak very well. Jarek could speak fluently almost without an accent._

" _But you can't leave us like this! What happens if we lose?" He asked in a panic anxiety. It was then that Orzel looked upon and smiled at his beloved son._

" _Don't worry about that!" He stated. "We won't lose and besides. Remember what I taught you about being a hunter and survival?" His son nodded. Ever since he was able to walk, Orzel and taught his son a whole array of strange fighting and surviving skills that some would describe as 'Supernatural' or even 'God-Like' to those with piety. But whatever it really was, Jarek found it to be really fun and practiced those skills as frequently as they could._

" _Good." Orzel stated "Just remember that, and you'll be alright." He was just about to leave, with his pack ready and all. However, he turned around as if he forgot something. "By the way. If things really get out of hand. Go under my bed, there's a trunk underneath it. I want you to open up and take what's inside. Then make for the woods as fast as you can. Do you understand?"_

" _Yes," his young son said, the flame of innocence still burning in his eyes._

" _Good. You'll be fine." He said before he placed his officer's cap on, with his pack and rifle, strange for an officer, mounted his horse,_ _Resztka, and rode away somberly with his son looking down as his father's silhouette disappeared, leaving Jarek with uncertainty. He's heard all the stories from the radio about the tensions raised between both of their countries. That that mean guy 'Hitler' is going to try to save ethnic Germans from the Poles. What will become of him and his family?_


	2. Brave New World

**Chapter 2: Brave New World**

The young huntress-in-training, Blake Belladonna, was searching for their destination along with the rest of Team RWBY of Beacon Academy on a three day survival exercise within one of the great forests of Remnant. Their main mission is to survive in the wild for that amount of time as well as kill as many Grimm as they could find before that time is up. Right now they are on a journey to where they believe is where a large Grimm nest is located.

"Blake, are you sure were going to the right location? We've been traveling all day!" Her team leader, Ruby Rose, asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure." The young Faunus replied. "The GPS on our scrolls suggested that this is the location. Besides, I know a Grimm when I smell them." She can understand why her team leader would be a little anxious and yet tired at the same time. They've been traveling for what seemed to be forever. However, it will only be a matter of time before they find the Grimm nest and then it would be all of hell on Remnant cast upon them. The rest of Team RWBY, Weiss Schnee, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, and Yang Xiao Long, Ruby's big sister, were closely following in silence.

Suddenly, there was a massive white flash in the distance, only for a very brief second followed by the thunder of a massive explosion probably twenty miles from their position. The concussive white blast of the explosion knocked everyone off their feet. It took the whole team a while to gather their bearings and their hearing to fix itself.

"What...was that?" Weiss asked herself and her team, not knowing what the answer was. Suddenly, Blake picked up a new scent, a kind that she had never smelled before. Whatever happened there, it's not good, something's up. In an instant, she changed course towards the blast site, then she took off, seemingly by her teammates one second then gone.

"Blake, we are supposed to-" Weiss tried to talk to her teammate before she sped off. Totally disregarding the mission at hand, for something stranger and more important had happened. Blake's sudden and impulsive mood forced the rest of her team to follow in quick pursuit, however, she was too fast to catch up to.

'Uggghhh….' groaned out the half asleep Jarek, completely dazed by the explosion that knocked him off of his feet. All he could see is white, the pure simple white, white all around and his ears were ringing like hell. For a few more minutes he sat there. Eventually began to regain his vision, and his ears stopped ringing and he was able to get his bearings. It's now high noon as far as he could tell. He's also lying down, face upward. He managed to get up which produced a slight headache but no other outward effects as he rubbed his head to try to ease it but to no avail.

Jarek managed to pick himself up and survey his surroundings. It's a forest like the ones in Poland, but there's something strange about it, something that's just off. He then twirled around and found that the forest was everywhere as far as he could see except for a small crater he's in. _Wait a minute_ Jarek thought. _I'm supposed to be dead, no one could possibly survive that explosion. The concussion would have surely got me. I must be dead, so is this Heaven? Or even the afterlife? If this is hell then I don't see what so many people were worried about, it doesn't seem all that bad._

Once the concussion ceased and his head cleared, Jarek began to survey his situation. Everything seemed fine, as if nothing was wrong with it strangely enough. He also discovered that most of his weapons were okay too, along with his bread bag. Jarek picked his Blyskawica, checked his magazines, they were fine. He still had plenty of ammo. Then his TT-33, it seemed fine too as well as his hatchet.

Jarek picked up his things and moved on out of the crater. However, as he had moved a mere thirty feet within a random direction, he found a brand new Gewehr 43 with a 4x scope, a semi-automatic rifle that the Germans recently developed from that SVT gun the Soviets were using at the start of the War, lying on the ground. It still even had that new gun smell as it was clear that it still had its first oil grease. Must have been taken with him from some dead Hitlerite. And that Hitlerite must have been a fresh recruit plucked from somewhere in the Reich. He grabbed it and placed his Blyskawica on his back with a piece of hemp that functioned as a sling. He couldn't find any additional mags lying around but the '43 held ten rounds, it would have to do for now. To make sure that nobody saw his face, he placed his scarf with white lightning bolts around the lower half of his face. It was his signature piece of attire, what made him distinguishable from other partisans.

He walked quietly and effectively, making little noise as possible. His only objective is to figure out where the hell he is right now. There's something strange about this place, something that's just plain off. Poland doesn't have any forests that are this beautiful, nor are there are supposed to be mountains in the surrounding distances, not that the motherland isn't beautiful. Then yet again, this could just be Belarus or somewhere else in Eastern Europe. But that seemed unlikely.

He moved off and walked several miles in the forest and eventually found what appeared to be a small dirt path. He decided to walk that path for a while in the hopes of finding...something, anything at all. Oddly, he finds himself strangely calm in the midst of all of this. Perhaps this is almost a relief. Shouldn't he be panicking? No, that's the worst thing he could do in a situation like this.

Suddenly out of nowhere, he spots in the distance a huge black object approaching him at high speed. Going way too fast and too big for any normal animal from home. Quickly, Jarek leaped out the way and the beast dash by him in a blur with a pink and white flash above it. He swore that he heard a girl singing a catchy tune.

"I'm Queen of the Castle! I'm Queen of the Castle!" Surprisingly, this was a relief to the Partisan. This meant that they're humans in this place/world he's in and as if to punctuate that thought, another blur, this one green went by with what he could have sworn was a yell of 'NORA!' Which caused Jarek to blink, as he mentally adjusted his statement, there may be people here but he wasn't entirely sure they were sane. However, whatever that thing was the girl was riding on, or at least he hoped she'd been riding, he wanted to steer clear of it. _Nope. Not going there. Definitely not going anywhere around there._ And he decided to exit off the path and head deep into the forest once more. On one of the trees, he discovered a tad bit of moss. _Good._ He thought. _If I move in that direction, I'm sure find something._

"So, is this where the explosion occurred?" Weiss asked her partner, Blake. Both of them looking down the crater.

"Yes, I'm certain. However, it's really small. A flash of that magnitude should have caused a greater explosion and thus a greater crater, strange," the latter said, not exactly sure what to make of it. This explosion is getting more interesting by the second. What Weiss said was true, the crater only had a diameter of roughly ten feet. An explosion relative to the flash they had witnessed should have caused one at least ten times greater. As she stepped down into the crater, she found a small patch of cloth lying inside the soft dirt. She picked it up and examined it. Her faunus senses sensed something that she'd never smelt from any human. And it had some kind of archaic fashion pattern that she has never seen before. All she's getting is more questions than she has answers to. Then Weiss noticed, in the crater, some boot prints that exited out of the crater and moved in the direction opposite of their position.

"Hey, Blake, I think I found some boot prints here." This is a wild card thrown right at them. This could only mean one thing: Someone had survived the explosion at its very epicenter and walked out unscathed. The print marks looked recent too, made just a half hour ago at the most. That means whoever has survived is out there somewhere, whoever and/or whatever it is. The sound of gunfire suddenly emerged from the distance, many dust based weapons were opening up, two dozen at least. However, Blake's Faunus ears detected another weapon in the midst. One that produced a noise that she'd never heard of before, a much harsher crack. This is getting stranger by the minute.

Jarek keeps moving towards the direction of the moss. Towards the direction of civilization. It was all random and disorientating for him. What in this world awaits him? But then he wondered again if this is the afterlife. His thoughts then shifted back to reality when he spotted at least thirty humanoid figures moving in a perpendicular direction. All of them wore strange black and white outfits and masks resembling some kind of monsters. They were also equipped with weapons similar to what Jarek seen back at the lab. He quickly hit the ground and hid behind a tree. _The first rule when you're in an unusual place,_ he thought. _Is not to shoot the first person you see, that usually does not lead to good relations._ They appear hostile enough, however, it was worth the risk of trying to make contact with them. Perhaps a friendly gesture will give them the right message.

Jarek picked himself up, started waving and shouting in Polish. 'Hey, over here!' He shouted as loud as he could. The plan worked, not however, the way he wanted to. The figures' attentions were quickly drawn by his voice. One of them peaked through what seemed to be binoculars and said: "It's a human! Kill him!" And they immediately opened fire on the unsuspecting Partisan with very colorful rounds producing a cocktail of destruction. Jarek frowned and quickly took cover behind the tree he was just hiding behind from just minutes before. _These suckers obviously were absent on the day manners and civility was handed out. Lost in war I suppose._

'Well, this is screwed up. So much for not shooting on sight!' He thought to himself outloud in Polish. This plan is screwed up. He's in a new place and already people are shooting at him. This is just GREAT...Just GREAT. Knowing what to do, Jarek grabbed his new rifle, went into the prone position, took sight on one of them, and squeezed the trigger. The guy dropped instantly. He found another target, BOOM! Dead. Then the next, and the next, and it was almost like a shooting gallery. Very quickly though, the figures grew smart and took cover in the face of extremely accurate fire. All of those years fighting are paying off.

Both sides return fire for a few seconds, when Jarek heard the sound of a rumbling chainsaw from behind. He turned around and saw a huge seven foot monster figure with a massive chainsaw roaring, anxious to slice something to bits. He seemed helpless against the mysterious weapons. However, remained calm, grabbed his hatchet in an attempt to defend himself. The monster seemed undeterred and proceeded to attempt to slice the young man in two. However, before that could be achieved, Jarek threw his hatchet right into the beast's face. He dropped instantly, dead, not even with a chance to cry out, but being pinned here made that a meager victory at best.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group were moving in on their prey and his '43 was empty of ammo. The pack was yearning for its prey. Behind cover, Jarek switched to his suppressed Błyskawica, grabbed a homemade high intensity smoke grenade, pulled the pin and threw it between him and the group of attackers. He waited for a few seconds for the smoke to take effect. He could hear, much to his delight, that all of his attackers were choking and complaining that they could not see and for some reason, one was cursing about his 'damned useless vision'. It was time to strike.

Under the cover of the smoke, Jarek broke cover and flanked the attackers with quick and silent movements as he circled behind them. He sprinted as far as he could, pumping every bit of energy he had into sprinting.

When he was sure that he had passed them, Jarek turned around and could see though the smoke many bright crimson symbols of a wolf with three scars slashed through it. Maybe a symbol to instill fear and hatred into the hearts of their enemies, but all it did now was make easy targets for Jarek's submachine gun through the smoke. He took aim at one of the symbols, fired a short burst, moved onto the next target. Then the next one, and the next one. It all happened in slow motion, each time he stopped and aimed seemed an eternity.

Only once did Jarek run out of ammo and was forced to reload in the midst of the rampage. When he was about to insert the new magazine. One of the attackers got ahold of the situation and was about to strike Jarek with a sword from above. But Jarek saw this coming and grabbed his homemade shiv knife from his boot and stabbed his attacker's chest twice before pushing him aside and reloaded his submachine gun to continue the carnage. By the time the smoke cleared, most of every attacker was dead on the ground. Jarek's face was sweating but his body was full of adrenaline.

Only one of his attackers remained alive and stood right in front of him. Jarek took aim and pulled the trigger. The gun clicked, signifying it was empty. He switched to his TT-33 but the last attacker seemed to be scared shitless. He dropped his weapon, dropped to his knees and started yelling in English: "I surrender! Don't shoot me please! We're really sorry we attacked you earlier! It wasn't my idea anyway!"

Jarek ignored his pleas, but did not fire his TT-33 and approached the attacker. Jarek knew English and fully understood it. However, his speaking of it was really rusted close to the core as he hasn't used it since his father disappeared a few years back. His father was the only one who spoke it in his family. However, this form of English seemed to be similar to the one he was taught by his father.

"Stand up!" Jarek ordered in English. The attacker complied. "Twirl...Around!" He complied as well. Jarek preceded to grab a portion of blood from his stained shiv, dipped his fingers in it. Then he smeared a Kotwica with a lightning bolt woven through it onto the back of the attacker. The color of the blood is identical to the one already printed upon it. But it will be brown once dried. Back home, this symbol planted fear into any Nazi with Polish blood on their hands or any innocent blood for that matter.

He then pulled out his TT-33, and then said to his attacker: "Now...y-you...go...you...tell...everything...to...everyone!" He said in broken English. The Attacker hesitated for a minute almost like he couldn't believe his luck. "I...said...go!" Jarek shouted, firing at the man's feet but deliberately missing. He got the message and he made a mad dash as fast as he could before Jarek could change his mind as he quickly disappeared into the forest. Jarek gave him no concern, whoever he works for, they'll know about this incident soon enough, at least he gave whoever they are a calling card.

Jarek then observed the carnage he inflicted, at least twenty eight dead bodies. For someone back home, that would had been nothing less than a god-like achievement. But for Jarek this is just another day...if this was Poland.

He retrieved his hatchet from the dead monster, and started searching all of the pockets of the dead attacker's bodies. He didn't find much that would be useful to him, some odd card objects that as near as he could figure, were some form of currency which he then pocketed.

On what appeared to be the leader, Jarek found some paperwork that might find useful later. He placed it in his bread bag.

For a moment, Jarek considered discarding his Blyskawica in exchange for one of the other guns, but dismissed the idea because he's not familiar with its use and in a brave new world, he would prefer to stick with what he knows. Once he's done, Jarek is going to get the hell out of here in hopes that these guys friends don't come too soon. If there's more of those folks out there, they would certainly have heard that battle. He gave them the calling card and there's hell to be payed if he encounters these same folks again. But what then? He just needs to find something...but what? What is he even looking for? This place definitely not the world he's from, it was obvious he's 'Not in Kansas anymore.' Wherever the hell Kansas is. If that's the case, then they're no Nazis and certainly no war. But if he ever found that son-of-a-bitch nazi scientist who sent him here he was going to kill him. Maybe he's here as well. If he survived that damn explosion, then it could be safe to assume he's out there plotting no good.

As he was searching through the pockets, looking for a bottle of water. Damn, he was getting pretty thirsty. A gun clicked into firing position followed by what sounded like a slash of sorts and instinctively, Jarek turned around. He found one of the attackers pointing his gun at him. However, he failed to shoot. Jarek quickly found a blade that was stabbed through the chest of his would-be attacker. The strange sequence of events was followed by the blade being yanked out and the attacker dropping to find a strange, pale skinned girl dressed in a black outfit wearing a black bow, who was armed with what appeared to be a pistol attached to a blade. An awkward silence soon followed. Jarek hesitated at the sight of the ember eyed girl, but remained suspicious. She doesn't look like the attackers but that doesn't mean she isn't one of them. He kept his Blyskawica pointed at her, maintaining vigilance. In return the girl pointed her strange weapon at him. It was a bluff, _Damn, I forgot to reload_ he just remembered.

A strange standoff ensued. Both the girl and Jarek seemed to have no idea what to make of each other. This standoff was short lived as a few minutes later, another girl dressed in a red and black outfit with red hair and silver eyes appeared in an area perpendicular position to him at his right.

"Hey Blake," The girl said in English. "Why did you run…" She then noticed Jarek, who unholstered his TT-33 and aimed it at her. "...oh…" The girl said realizing she had a weapon pointed at her. She immediately pointed her weapon at Jarek in return, deploying what look to be..a...SCYTHE...no. Much worse, it was a scythe with an Anti-Tank Gun! Like a PTRS-41! The kind that one uses to kill tanks with, being pointed at him. What has this world come to? Transforming weapons!?

Whatever fear Jarek might had, he didn't show it to them but put on his best poker face, while in his head it went something like, _'Oh hell, I am so very screwed, I am screwed up, down, sideways, and every direction in between'_. This has now evolved into a one way Mexican standoff. Kind of like those American cowboy films that Jarek enjoyed watching in the movie theater every time his family came to Warsaw for a day trip when he was a little boy. He also found it very strange that the girl is wearing a red cloak in the middle of the green forest. Whatever this place is, nobody seems to have any of the slightest concern for camouflage. Perhaps it wasn't invented here or there's no use for it.

Jarek was clearly outnumbered and more so outgunned, but he wasn't going to surrender. There was an old saying that the person who finds you isn't always your friend. This applies more than ever.

Jarek was then tapped in the back of the head with something that felt of hard metal. He glanced around to see a smiling blond hair girl with gleaming purple colored eyes within two feet of him, armed with a gun gauntlet pressed against the back of his neck.

"Na uh uh," She said almost like a mother scolding a child, actually shaking her finger at him which served to only make it more terrifying. "You shouldn't do that, buddy." _Damn, this is getting weirdly like God lives in a straightjacket_ Jarek thought to himself. When his neck returned to its default state, he noticed another girl directly ahead of him dressed all in white and was armed with what appeared to be a rapier. She was quite some distance to actually strike him. However, her battle stance and overwhelming confidence radiating from her face implied that she had some way to make up the distance. And he didn't want to find out how that was achieved.

Realizing that any attempt to fight back was sheer lunacy and figuring it was best to cooperate, Jarek decided to surrender. He placed his hands in the air, still holding his weapons, and he gently placed his Blyskawica and the TT-33 on the ground but he still did not show fear.

Without saying a word, he then removed his hatchet from his belt as well as the shiv from his boot and the '43 and laid them on the ground.

"Smart move buddy," The blonde said. Then Weiss approached Jarek with a vengeance and tore off his scarf revealing to them a young man their age. _He can't be any older than we are, yet he handled all these White Fang by himself?_ Weiss thought to herself

"I call getting to search through all of his weapons!" The red girl said impulsively as she picked up his weapons with a large amount of enthusiasm, which both interested Jarek and terrified him, if something went wrong while she did that her friends might retaliate. "Be...careful with tha-" he starts then cuts himself off when he sees she somehow already succeeded in field stripping the TT-33, in under a minute! _The hell is this girl?_ Meanwhile, the other three girls were trying to figure out what to do with their new captive.

"Any idea with what we should do with him, Weiss?" Blake asked her teammate. "I don't know, maybe we should ask him about what happened here." The one they call Weiss suggested, looking at all the dead White Fang around them.

"Okay, I guess that's a sound plan." The one behind Jarek said. Jarek quickly recognized that 'Weiss' is the German word for 'White' does that mean this girl knows German? That's a one in a million shot, but only one way to find out. But the way they used that word as if it were a name.

"Weiss? Meinst du das Gelb?" he addressed the all-white girl in German. "Oder es ist deinen Name?". Weiss immediately recognized her name in the young man's sentence, even a little bit of the language that this young man's speaking.

"Ummm...es ist….Mein Name?" She said incompetently, very weirded out.

"Ah, es ist deine Name!" He said. Weiss was stunned that this young scrappy little boy knows her family's language or something similar. The Schneische language has been in existence for hundreds of years, ever since her earliest ancestors. This boy seems to speak a similar language, she can make out some of the words, enough to get the basic jist of what he's trying to say.

"Umm...do you know what he's saying?" Blake ask.

"I think so, only a few words here and there, though, it sounds like the language of the Schnee's." Weiss said

"Bless you!" Yang joked, which earned groans from her team before Weiss asked him his name.

"Name is Jarek Gniewek." Jarek proudly replied in his best English. The girls wore stunned expressions on their faces that this young man fully understood what they were saying. However, couldn't speak it that effectively.

"Woah...did he just say his name?" Yang asked herself. All of the girls nodded in agreement. "Does this mean you can speak our language?" She asked Jarek. The latter made some shaky gestures with his face and hands to signify a meh.

"Umm...little bit. I understandings of perfect!" Jarek said in his rusty English with a heavy accent of Polish overtones.

"Okay, so he knows what we're saying but we have no idea what he's saying, at least not very well." Blake said. "At least that's a start."

"What should we do then, I know we are supposed to be out here for three days but shouldn't we get him back to Beacon and Ozpin as soon as possible?" Yang asked, her gauntlet now just resting against Jarek's lower back instead of his skull.

"We probably should get him back to Glynda now, Ruby, do you have the flare?" Weiss asked, turning to the red cloak wearing girl who had by now reassembled Jarek's TT-33 and was now examining one of the bullets. "Hmm, I wonder where the dust goes?" she asked herself before she managed to open the bullet and the gunpowder came rushing out in a cloud which enveloped Ruby's face. Weiss got a worried look on her face, "Oh no not again," she said and jumped away, as did Blake and Yang, pulling Jarek with her just as Ruby sneezed. Weiss waited, eyes closed, but did not here the expected explosion. Cracking an eye, she saw Ruby rubbing her nose in slight annoyance. "Hmm, guess it isn't as volatile as Dust." Weiss muttered as no one bothered to explain their reactions to Jarek. And Jarek didn't care, he was more worried about his own hide at this point. "Uh guys, I forgot the flare." Ruby said, causing Weiss to scowl.

"You dunce, how did you forget the flare? It was in your pack!" Weiss demanded, towering over her young leader.

"I took it out this morning to make room for my cookies," Ruby said, producing said baked goods and munching on one and offered another to Weiss. The reactions of team RWBY were nothing short of varied. Blake cocked an eyebrow in amusement, Yang broke down laughing and Jarek could have sworn he saw Weiss, as the white haired girl was called, quite literally venting steam out of her ears.

"People like cookies. I like cookies. Haven't had one in long time." The partisan said, sensing the lighthearted nature of the situation, smiling when the one called Ruby gave him a cookie. Still, better be quiet and not cause a stir. His instincts tell him to find a way to escape his captors, but the other side of him says that whoever the hell these girls are, they don't seem to want to kill him, and by body language they seem just as confused as he is.

"You took out an item we could use to get rescue if things became too dangerous, to bring along COOKIES?! And I don't care who likes cookies! You can like ballroom dancing under the name Fanny the Fabulous for all I care!" Weiss screeched in disbelief and rage and Jarek seemed sure this Ruby girl was about to be in a lot of trouble, leading him to clear his throat. "I have...flare." he said when Weiss turned to look at him as he pointed to a long red object among his weapons which he then approached and fiddled with it before he tossed it down and it began emitting a large cloud of bright red smoke. "That was convenient," Blake said as they sit down to wait. Not five minutes later, a Bullhead appears above them and lands in the clearing. _The hell is this thing?_ Jarek said in his head as he was led onboard and the vehicle took off again. _Something from some lunatic's imagination._

Jarek sat in silence as they rode, but then he realized that he was blood wrenchingly thirsty. All of that adrenaline had evaporated after the encounter with the first set of people in this strange land of strange weapons that tried to kill him on spot. He got his 'liberated' German canteen from his belt and opened up and tried to take a sip. All there was was a meager drop to quench the roaring thirst. _Damn,_ he thought, _I forgot to resupply my water._ He then turned to this Yang person whose gun/gauntlet thing is pressed against his thigh, gently waving his canteen and saying: "Water…?" The Blonde smiled at him of a sinister kind and she quietly handed him a small metal flask _._ Then she makes the quiet symbol with her mouth and finger. Having no idea why she did that, he opened the flask and took a sip. His tongue began to burn with the sweet taste of ice cold water. However, it had a strange tint of flavor of behind it, a kind of sweet flavor. Nothing artificial, but rather tasted natural to the water itself. No idea what that is, not that he's complaining about it.

It wasn't long before they landed again and he was led off and marched over to what seemed to be some kind of camp. The tents were much more sophisticated that anything Jarek had seen in his Partisan career. He and the battalion would just sleep wherever convenient completely exposed to the elements. It was here a tall woman with blond hair and what looked like a cape walked up holding a strange compact machine. "Who are you, young man?"


	3. Displaced

**Chapter 3: Displaced**

The young partisan, Jarek Gniewek, had no idea what the hell he had gotten himself into, or that damned bastard of a scientist who somehow sent him here had gotten him into he supposed. He is to blame for this mess. First he was killing some weird folks with masks, now, he's standing right in front of some kind of authority figure wielding an instrument reminiscent of his early days in primary school, the kind of thing that teachers would use to discipline disobedient school children, or a rider might use on a horse. Thankfully, for him, she doesn't seem to be planning on using it at any time soon.

"Who are you, young man? Do you understand what I'm saying?" The woman asked sternly, obviously not one to be too patient, yet she seemed to have a hint of curiosity.

"I... Jarek Gniewek..." He introduced himself

"Mr. Gniewek, what exactly are you doing here in the middle of a Beacon Academy training exercise? Do you realized that your actions have interrupted one of our teams? Do you realize you risked your own life by being in this forest while live ammunition is being used? Not to mention the high density of Grimm in the area?" Glynda asked in rapid succession.

 _What the hell was she talking about?_ Jarek thought _A training exercise? Live ammunition? Grimm? Funny this seems to be all too strange, I think I've gone insane_. He gave a really confused look at the woman at what she's talking about. Like she's speaking a radically different language.

"What...is...a...Beacon?"

It was at that moment when Glynda realized that she has a situation out of the ordinary. This young man has no idea what Beacon Academy is. Almost everyone who has encountered Grimm knows about Huntsmen and Huntresses and the schools that train them. In fact, EVERYONE in Remnant knows about Beacon. Something is up.

"Do you have any idea where you are, Mr. Gniewek?" Glynda asked with suspicion. Jarek shooked his head fiercely in a clear no. Glynda squinted her eyes right at Jarek and attempted to see any signs of deception, there was none to be found. Either she's dealing with a practiced liar, trying to interfere with the school's activities, or a confused lost person trying to figure out what was going on, most likely it was the latter. Even she is trying to figure out what was going on.

"Miss Goodwitch, we've found him in the forest with a lot of dead White Fang. There's overwhelming evidence to suggest that this person has killed them all in an intense battle of some kind." Blake said.

"Yeah, and his weapons are pretty weird, but really REALLY cool too!" Ruby noted still inspecting all of his interesting and seemingly exotic weapons. At this point she's moved on to Jarek's rifle and disassembling and inspecting it. She seems curious that this weapon doesn't seem to have any kind of transformation mode at all!

Glynda's eyes squinted at the young man with the fedora he had taken from his pack and placed on his head on the flight, and it's red and white band with a strange looking symbol, taking a closer look at the kid. She sees all of the dust on his neutral colored clothes, mostly brown and black apart from that strange red and white armband on his arm. She looked at her scroll and searched through her cameras located all over the forest and found the camera that had the location of the alleged gun battle. She played it back, and all there was were a lot of smoke and a circus of gunfire erupting in the air. But there was another weapon sound that no dust weapon should make, it sounded kind of sickly to her, sounded unnatural, sharper. She froze the screen right as the smoke cleared and it showed the young man, his Blyskawica firing and him yelling. She saw a person who may not have the best skills available, but his face showed a determination that is unmatched, yet cool headed and calm.

"Interesting" she murmured, showing the footage to team RWBY when Jarek noticed something behind them. A big foul creature of immense height, resembling a kind of a wolf, all black and glowing blood eyes. Jarek could sense there was no soul in this beast. "Uh….rear….you….rear!" He said, trying unsuccessfully to gain their attention. They were all focused on the footage and all seemed distracted at the danger at hand.

Just when the 'Grimm,' which this must be, was about to swing a blow at the one they call Blake, Jarek made a sudden dash to his weapons near where Ruby was located, grabbed his TT-33 and hatchet still on the ground. He rapidly inserted a mag and unloaded it right into the beast's face. It seemed only to stun it, giving Jarek enough time to grab his hatchet and charge the beast with just that. He managed to throw the hatchet and strike it right in its face, but the monster still seemed to be alive. Undeterred, Jarek grabbed his hatchet, and mercilessly hacked the monster's head off in a couple rough strokes, the whole thing was ended in under a minute. The monster started to slowly evaporated and Jarek found himself with the blade of Weiss's rapier within millimeters of his throat.

"Impressive, Mr. Gniewek." Glynda said seemingly calm, but with a hint of surprise. Team RWBY except Weiss, were stunned if not impressed as well at what Jarek had done. He had slain a Beowulf with just a humble handgun and a primitive axe, without any Dust. Weiss, meanwhile, still had her Myrtenaster close to his throat.

"You may put your weapon down, Ms. Schnee." Goodwitch ordered. Weiss grunted before she reluctantly complied and sheathed her weapon. The rest of Team RWBY had various reactions, Ruby and Yang could simply not believe their eyes of what this kid had done. Blake was still surprised that she failed to detect the Beowulf.

Jarek then dropped his weapons. Exhausted, he sat down on a nearby tree stump, opened up his small backpack, found his 'liberated' german rations, opened one up and calmly grabbed a bite. His face bore the tell-tale signs of slight exhaustion, but his expression attempted to hide it and it was clear that even he was surprised.

"Umm...how did you do that?" Ruby asked. Jarek shooked his head and raised his shoulders.

"No idea" he said. "You...not...looking." Jarek said

Today, Glynda was given a wild card. Somehow, some way, this young man came quite literally out of nowhere and had seemingly unintentionally disrupted this training exercise. However, what seemed to be more infinitely more important was that wherever this young man had come from, they surely know how to fight. He most certainly cannot be from Remnant, not of this world. Based on his inability to speak the language fluently, his dustless weaponry, and lack of an activated aura, and the armband with an unusual symbol that she had never seen before. Yet there was something familiar about this Jarek person, maybe it was the hat, or perhaps it was something else but she was not sure what it was.

"Where are you from, Mr. Gniewek?" Ms. Goodwitch asked. Jarek stood up since he was finished with his hasty meal.

"Rzeczpospolita Polska." The partisan proudly replied.

"Polska…" Glynda said, the name being unfamiliar. _The way he said it seems like it's probably the official title and with great meaning_ she thought. "And where exactly is this 'Polska' place?"

"N-Not here. Not anywhere around here..."

At that moment, Glynda had no idea on how to deal with this kind of situation. This young man seems lost, and is in need of guidance. However, she must know what had happened. Whoever this Jarek person is, he seems to be a good fighter.

"Mr. Gniewek, will you please explain where have you learned how to do all of this?" Goodwitch asked nicely, and showed Jarek her scroll showing the whole gunfight between him and those attackers. For a few moments, the young man was stunned at the strange device. It appeared to be some kind of camera, but nothing like he'd seen before. The ones he were used to were big and bulky and didn't even had good resolution yet alone color definition, nothing compared to this small device! The moment became so long, that team RWBY was wondering if the boy knew what was being shown to him. Weiss was getting a little too impatient judging by her posture.

Then Jarek then noticed that the device was see through and saw the girl's posture. He realized he had to give her an answer.

"I'm...a...p-partisan...taught...myself..." Jarek explained in his fumbled English. The word seemed vaguely familiar to Glynda. In the history of Remnant, Partisans were those who were civilians who fought during the Great War against the forces of those who wished to abolish the very idea of art and individuality. They fought against them by protecting art and started the trend to name their children after colors. Could that have the same meaning here? No matter for now. Her main priority is to figure out what the White Fang were up to in the first place. Obviously nothing good ever came from them, but still.

"Did those people who attacked you have anything on them?" This almost felt scripted. Jarek instantly remembered the document that he recovered from their leader and handed over to her.

"I found...this."

She opened up and she briefly glanced at the paper. What she found disturbed her to the very core. The contents of the letter said that the White Fang was ordered to attack and kill any Beacon student in their vicinity but especially Team RWBY for whatever the reason. Realizing the imminent danger, she did what any good teacher would do to protect her pupils. She ordered all of the students evacuated and taken back to Beacon Academy immediately.

"Team RWBY, please help me escort this young man back to Beacon." She ordered as the Bullhead landed and they all entered, making this the second time Jarek has ever flown in a plane, or whatever this thing is. It took off moments later, there was no time to waste. For a minute, Jarek started to collect his thoughts. First, he was attacking a secret German weapons lab, next he died, or at least he thinks he did, then he was transported into this new world and found himself fighting for his life, now this! It seems to be a lot to go through in under two hours... _wait,_ he thought. _What in God's name is the time anyway? Dos this place use the same time frame? Is it still 1944? Or did I travel through time? Am I seperated by space and time? This is ridiculous but anyhow, I'll just cooperate with these people until I know what is going on and piece this bloody puzzle together._

With the blondie still holding her gauntlet against his thigh, Jarek took a chance to lay back, placed his fedora over his eyes and began to sleep. Who knows when he'll have enough time to sleep?

And before his eyes closed, he swore that he saw his father, maybe it was just an illusion, it probably was.

 _Five Years Earlier…_

 _November 1939_

" _No! You can't take him away from me! He's my son!" Cried Antonia Gniewek, as she was pulled away from her thirteen year old son Jarek in her own home by gray clad soldiers of the Wehrmacht. Jarek attempted to jerk free from his captors, but it was little use. The soldiers are too strong for a thirteen year old to handle. He was taken completely surprised by their arrival, first his mother was just feeding him late night dinner when suddenly there was a knock on the door and this happened._

" _I'm afraid that's not possible," Said the SS officer of the Lebensborn, the Nazi's Program to breed a new Aryan Master Race. "Your son is the only person here who has even a hint of Nordic Heritage in him. You are a Polak schwein who's in dire need of extermination."_

" _But that's not true!" Antonia protested. "I'm one hundred percent Aryan! Don't you see that?"_

" _Perhaps, you have a slight appearance of an Aryan. However, your actions here of resisting and the fact that you're the wife of a Polish Officer proves otherwise." He explain as he escorted the precious Aryan out of the small log cabin of a house. 'Such uncivilized pigs the Polaks are'. He thought to himself. 'This place doesn't even have proper plumbing! Animals! At least they picked the cream of the crop here!'_

" _Go and do what you want with the bitch. She's all yours!" He ordered his soldiers as at least three of them followed those orders zealously and all Jarek could hear was his mother's howling screams._

" _Mama!" He tried to yell back to his mother before he was carted away to a German truck and zoomed off, minutes later, he heard a muffled rifle shot from the direction of his house. His heart sank cold. His mother was dead, dead and gone. The Nazis bastards had done that._

" _I'm terribly sorry for that, young man!" The SS officer croaked as if not really meaning what he said and his breath lightly simmered of alcohol. "That was totally unnecessary." He explained. Then he went on and on about how he was about to be part of the new German Master Race or some bullshit like that and how it was the destiny of the Aryans. This instead filled Jarek with anger, Jarek knew a little bit of the Lebensborn program, at rumors at least. He heard it was a program designed to create a master race for this 'Third Reich' and they were abducting people of "Aryan" looking descent and assimilating them into Germany. Making them forget who they are, where they come from, who their parents are and so on. One of the greatest crimes of all: Destroying one's identity. If this is what the 'Master Race' is all about, then Jarek wanted no part. The Nazis had forfeited any sympathy from him. Then his sadness had turned in rage and anger towards his captors. All there was left to do, was to escape and make his way back home. Just needed to wait for the right moment of opportunity._


	4. Welcome to Beacon

_**Chapter 4: Welcome to Beacon**_

 _Remnant? Time: Unknown (Still same year?!)_

"Wake up, buddy!" The Yang person almost shouted cheerfully at Jarek, who fumbled from his sleep. The shock surprised him and he squirmed all over the place. Back in Poland, that gesture signaled he'd been captured by the Gestapo, in other words, a one way ticket to hell. He suddenly dropped his hat and quickly tried to get it. But Yang pushed him back and Blake got the hat instead. For a brief glance, she noticed that the front of the gray fedora had a strange metal emblem on it. A sort of a pin attached to it but didn't get a good enough look to determine what it was.

"Here," She said.

"Dzięki…" Jarek said quietly, still not knowing what to think of this ordeal. Meanwhile, that red-cloaked girl, named 'Ruby' was still looking fascinated as she keeps disassembling his G43 and looking at the parts with curious eyes before she put it all back together like someone who had went through the same puzzle all over again. It seemed strange to him that he doesn't have his weapons at his disposal right now. Ever since he fled from the Nazis, he'd never wandered around anywhere without a pistol at the least or a humble switchblade. Now he feels a sense of helplessness as he was being escorted out what they call a 'Bullhead' and approached the castle.

They marching a certain kind of awkward formation. The teacher 'Goodwitch' who oddly reminds him of that Wizard of Oz movie he watched a while ago just before the war, marched in the front, followed by the red cloaked girl holding all of his weapons enthusiastically as the white one follows suit on the other side. In the center is Jarek with the Yang girl holding her gauntlet against his chest while Blake takes up the rear. The procession resembles the way a prisoner is sometimes transported from the courthouse to the jail and eventually to the grave. _'At least they aren't using handcuffs.'_ He thought to himself

"BEACON, HOME SWEET HOME!" Yang said happily. "Now I can finally take a shower."

The entered through the main gate and the castle's interior matched the exterior just as equally in terms of elegance and it was far bigger than anything that he'd ever seen. They moved onto the stairway and then to an elevator when they all crammed themselves into the six by six elevator space. To be in a room full of women felt a little unnerving for the partisan. Jarek didn't really realize that until they were halfway to the top floor. He assumed that's where they're going.

Eventually, they reached the very top floor and they came to a huge circular office with enormous clockwork gears that spun slowly while what seemed to be a middle aged man with white hair and a coffee mug sat on a desk doing something that appeared to be some kind of paperwork. They all stepped into the room and Jarek became a little nervous at this point. Whoever this person is, he must be the one calling the shots around here. These guys and girls may be friendly, but Jarek keeps his mental guard up, it takes much more than just a few hours to gain his trust. Besides, it's been his nature since the start of the war not to trust people, at least at first because he'll not know if there's a collaborator in his midst.

The man paused with his paperwork and then turned his attention to the scene in front of him. He set down the papers he had just been looking over as he laced his fingers together and sat them in front of him, obscuring the lower part of his face so just his dark tinted glasses peered over them. "Ah, Glynda, team RWBY, you're back early. I take it this young man you have with you would be the reason for that?" He asked softly as he appraised Jarek.

"Yes, that would be correct professor, we found this young man man in the middle of the training exercise and he somehow managed to defeat a whole group of White Fang with these strange weapons." She explained. "Ruby." She signaled.

At that, Ruby placed all of Jarek's weapons on Ozpin's desk with a very small hint of reluctance. Ozpin picked up the disarmed pistol and examined it. "Interesting. Rather archaic and they don't seem to have any of the design styles common to weapon smiths here in Vale." He said before setting the weapon back on his desk. "Did he say where he was from?" he asks, looking up at Glynda.

"He said he was from some place called 'Polska' someplace not of this world," She said, her tone implying she didn't quite believe it. "Regardless of where he came from, he interrupted the exercise but he also killed the group of White Fang. I'm honestly unsure if we should trust him or congratulate him." She said, glancing over at Jarek.

"I see, Ms. Xiao Long, I believe you can lower your gauntlets. Team RWBY, Glynda, if you would give me time to speak to Mr…." Ozpin began, trailing off, looking at Jarek expectantly.

"I am Jarek Gniewek, Polish Home Army, Special Scout Battalion: Zniwiarz," He introduced himself in good English with a surge of secret pride flowing through his veins. Even though he's most likely not in Poland, or anywhere on his planet, he's still a Home Army fighter, his location does not change his identity. But it simply makes him more than he was: He's a de facto representative of Poland and his world.

"I see. Well if I could have a moment to speak to Mr. Gniewek alone please, I'll ask for a full debrief from team RWBY later." Ozpin said, dismissing Glynda and team RWBY, with Yang tugging a forlorn Ruby out the door and away from the weapons as Glynda shut the door behind them and their steps could be heard receding down the hall.

Turning to Jarek, Ozpin gestured to a seat in front of his desk which Jarek gratefully took. "I'm Professor Ozpin, I'm the headmaster of Beacon Academy. The place you're in right now."

 _Holy Dupa,_ Jarek thought. _This castle is a school? Well, I can't say I'm not really that surprised with all the kids my age escorting me now come to think of it. If this is a school, this is the most badass school there is. No school back home will allow any weapons in school unless if it's a military academy, and even that has restrictions._

"Now Mr. Gniewek, I want you to start explaining to me who exactly you are and why you are here." Ozpin said, the way he phrased it not a demand so much as a request as he took a small sip from his coffee. Jarek thought about it for a minute, he remembered his Home Army oath of sworn secrecy. Any information could leak into the hands of the Nazis and he'll be in so much trouble. But on the other hand, since he's no longer in Poland or Europe for that matter, the oath became sadly irrelevant under the given circumstances. After all, Jarek's pretty certain that this guy isn't a Nazi and someone who could be trusted. They might have the fortune to not know what a Nazi is.

"Well...Professor." He started trying to articulate his thoughts and explain a whole bloody war to him without blowing his mind when it comes to scale. "I'm a Partisan...A Resistance Fighter...I guess you can say...A civilian at war...You see, my world appears to be vaguely similar to this one as far as I can see as of now. However, imagine that world without those great black creatures or those strange fancy weapons you all have here and you have my world. But let me assure you that we have no shortage of monsters of our own…" His english skills are coming back at a faster rate than he might have expected.

"For a few years now, my world has been engulfed in a war of unimaginable scale. Millions upon millions of people have perished, many...innocent. My home...'Polska' better to your language as the 'Republic of Poland' was the first victim of this disaster. Our hostile neighbors to the west, Nazi Germany, and the powerful juggernaut of the Soviet Union to the east had brutally invaded my homeland from both sides. My country's soldiers fought bravely with what they had…" Jarek then paused with a glimpse of sadness in his eyes still remembering the humiliation his country had suffered. "But their resistance was futile as the Nazis and the Soviets had numbers on their sides and we were overran. Within just twenty eight days, Poland was fully conquered and ceased to exist. We were promised help from our allies Britain and France from the west but they did nothing to ease our suffering.

"It was then both of our conquerors began to try to destroy my people and culture. So we can never reclaim our birthright again. However, many of us Poles were not going to stand for that. We had been partitioned before a century and a half ago and only now begun to enjoy our freedom again. So we began to fight back, resisting the Nazis and Soviets at every turn. We formed an Underground State and an Army to fight for it. Which eventually became the Home Army. We did everything we could to kill Nazis and undermine them with whatever we had. We killed Nazis, we destroyed their rail tracks, their supplies, assassinated their leaders, everywhere they were we tried to make it a living hell for them. Tragically, the Nazi SS security units would retaliate for each of their kin slain by our hands, a hundred of our people would be murdered in cold blood. So I was sent out to prevent these atrocities and make their retaliatory actions ineffective. However, if that wasn't possible, then I was to avenge the innocent. There was only one way to do it...dispatch them... In other words, I kill monsters. Not the great ten-foot-tall beasts of this world your people fight every day. I mean the human kind. The kind that has human form, have human eyes, and a soul. But they are just are bloodthirsty as your monsters. That is who I am...a fighter that kills monsters so others may have a chance to live. Not a guarantee, but a chance however small." After Jarek finished, Ozpin sat silently, mulling over what he had just heard, how his last statement had seemed to almost perfectly described the job of Huntsmen and Huntresses.

"As for the how I got here part, even I'm just as confused as you may be but I'll give it my best shot. My battalion had gotten word that the Nazis had this secret facility in the middle of the forest and were making God know's what in there. But whatever it was, it was rumored that it would win the war for them and they had to be stopped. So in the middle of the night, our Scout Assault Group of a hundred strong attacked the facility with everything we had and my God we killed a great deal of them. The Krauts had no idea what hit them, a taste of their own medicine I suppose.

"Eventually, myself and part of the Battalion breached the main building and stormed the place and took everyone by surprise. Anyone who tried to stop us we killed. Those who wished to surrender, were able to do so. I searched the top floor and found very strange weapons and jars full of Staub... the German world for 'Dust'. I found that very strange at first glance that the Nazis were gathering small particles or something strange as that. But those things and weapons were serious and the rumors might be true. In that same room I found a Nazi scientist who I ordered to surrender. What the hell was I thinking then? Damn, I should have shoot him." He paused to reflect on a moment of regret. "But I didn't and he turned around and he gave a short speech. Then he grabbed out his Luger and shot the jars and everything faded to pure glowing white, I honestly thought I was dead. But I woke up and found myself in the forest your people were using and that's how I came to this world. I just popped right in the middle of the forest by pure chance and coincidence, by luck."

"That is an incredible story Mr. Gniewek, it seems rather impossible. However, in my experiences here in Remnant I have seen some incredible things. Another thing has also occurred to me, your description of yourself is remarkably similar to the answer I would have received had I asked one of my students here what a Huntsmen's job is."

"A Huntsman?" Jarek asked. The very word sounded medieval to him, archaic, ancient, like his weapons. Yet at the same time, beautiful with color and possibility.

"A Huntsman and Huntress performs the job you just described, Mr. Gniewek. They are warriors who hunt and kill monsters...unlike your 'human' ones. Our warriors hunt those creatures you encountered and somehow killed with little more than a simple tool of man. To us, they are known as 'Grimm'." Ozpin explained. "They have infested our world since the dawn of man and will stop at nothing to destroy all of civilization and the only thing standing in their way are those who fight them, and often lay down their lives to stop them."

"You mean that wolf thing I killed earlier? Just when I thought I've seen it all..." He commented

At that moment, Jarek then recalled how many of his comrades had died already by a Nazi bullet or dagger in the name of freedom. Now these 'Huntsmen' and 'Huntresses' fight for the very survival of humanity a very noble goal indeed. "Now, Mr. Gniewek, why don't you explain to me what happened after you woke up here." Ozpin said, inviting Jarek to continue.

"Well...as I was saying...after I woke up I took stock of my situation, for all I knew I somehow survived and the Nazis are still hunting me. So I found a rifle and most of my other weapons were still somehow intact. Quickly though, I realized that I couldn't be home because the forest looked somewhat different...Actually there was just something off, it...didn't feel right. So I decided to try to make my way towards...well anything. Eventually, I found a path and decided to go for it. Wherever there's a path there sure must be people, am I not right? So I followed that path for quite some time...Then suddenly, a great creature came charging at me which I quickly dodged. I swear to God I heard something yelling. 'Queen of Castle' followed by another flash yelling 'NORA!' I assume that's a name around here.

"So I therefore decided to take a very different path. After just walking one mile, I encountered those White Fang guys. I tried to communicate with them. However, it seems that they were interested in shooting first then asked questions later. Once I was in combat again, everything just became natural to me...Take cover, pick your target, and then return fire. Then in the middle of the firefight, I ran out of ammo for my G43. I only had ten rounds in the stupid thing. Just when I was about to switch to my submachine gun, some lucky S.O.B. had managed to get behind me wielding a chainsaw! That's an event that's highly unusual from my world and he was about to hack me to pieces. But I grabbed my hatchet and threw it into his face and he fell down like Goliath. Once that was over, I switched to my submachine gun, popped a smoke grenade, and threw it as best as I could. I then proceeded to perform a flanking maneuver against my attackers in the chaos. So I ran as far as I could, totally bypassing them, turned around and shot all of them the back. Those red wolves on their backs proved to be easy targets for me. I killed them all, but there was one that surrendered which I accepted, there had been enough killing that day. So I drew a Kotwica on his back and told him to run or be shot. He took my warning promptly. I wanted for those who tried to inflict harm upon me to know who we're dealing with. "I then proceeded to loot my dead enemies. It was a natural habit to me for to do so since I had to scavenge for materials back home. As I did so, I heard a gun being cocked, I turned around, ready to obliterate anyone behind me. However, I only found one White Fang that froze still in time. Then he fell down with a blade at his stomach and low and behold was a girl my age dressed all in black who appeared to be just as confused as I was. I think this 'Ruby' team could explain the rest of the story." Jarek drew out a breath at that moment as his english is at a point of exhaustion.

"I see. Well Mr. Gniewek, after all you have told me I believe it would be fair to answer a few questions for you, you may ask away." Ozpin told him.

"Well…" Jarek started. "What is this place? Not the school. I mean the world I'm in?"

"A perfectly natural question, Mr. Gniewek. And I shall attempt to answer it to the best of my ability. This world is known as 'Remnant' and is home to both great beauty and great danger. It is has been more or less inhabited and tamed for the past several thousand years, longer if you believe the stories, which I do. The Grimm, soulless creatures born of negative emotion and thus drawn to it, have tormented us for as long as we have existed, and it was only thanks to the discovery of a substance we call 'Dust' that we were able to push back the dark tide and carve out the Kingdoms of Vale, Mistral, Vacuo, Atlas, and the now defunct Kingdom of Mantle which is now Atlas. Huntsmen and Huntresses were before that point trained informally, but once the Kingdoms were secured at the end of the Great War, our ongoing struggle with the Grimm, schools for combat training were quickly established. Everyone in our world has an Aura, a manifestation of our will and soul around us that protects us. They also have a Semblance, some sort of ability or power that is connected to their Aura, though the average person, a civilian if you like, often does not unlock or consciously use their semblance. Our weapons as you have no doubt noticed are combinations of two if not more individual weapons that the user can change on the fly. This style of weaponry is one of the most visible legacies of the great Oum, a man who without his genius and unwavering determination we very well might have lost our fragile hold on this world. Now by the look on your face you have several burning questions, please, ask away." Ozpin said.

"Okay. So all your weapons are based on Dust right?" Jarek asked.

"You are correct, all of our weapons are powered by Dust. It is a highly volatile substance but it is ideally suited to killing Grimm and being utilized in conjunction with Aura." For a moment, Jarek compared Dust with his world's gunpowder. This explains why the Germans were so interested in this.

"Aura?" Jarek asked.

"Aura is as I said, a manifestation of our souls, a field of energy around us. Aura can be used to block harm or heal wounds and when paired with Dust it can be used as a potent weapon." Ozpin explained.

"One last question for now...what were your people doing in the forest I was in?"

"That was a training exercise, seeing how the teams do surviving in the wild." Ozpin answered him. The young partisan thought for a moment on how he can 'survive' in the wild. Hell, he LIVED in the wild for four-five years maybe. It was almost laughable, three days? Try five years!

Jarek no longer had any questions, he only had been in this world for barely a few hours after all. Events had transpired really far too fast for him to ask all the questions he had. There'll be a time and place for questions but right now, he needs time to accept his new existence. He quietly took off his fedora and wiped his sweaty face with his biker style gloves.

"Sorry, but I'm exhausted...I need a moment to...accept this reality. There's a lot to think over..." Ozpin nodded, fully understanding that.

"After you are done processing, I have something to ask you. Despite not being of this world, you have skills that would make you eminently suited to being a Huntsmen. How would you like to attend my school?" Ozpin asked, cocking his eyebrow once he asked Jarek this very important question.

Jarek immediately snapped his eyes toward Ozpin upon listening to the offer. In a brave new world for not too long and suddenly offered a new life. If it was up to him,he would try to make his way home. But knowing the fact that there's no war to wage here and no Nazis here, it seemed a more than generous offer. But he suddenly realized he has 'died' once, therefore, he has nothing left to lose, and there'll be plenty of acceptance later. Besides, when the Nazis killed his mother, he was forced to accept it. Maybe this is what he really prepared for all his life.

He put his hat on and made the greatest grin that any shell-shocked, battle weary partisan could make.

"If there's a good fight to be fought then I'll be there. Hell yes." Was Jarek declared, clearly accepting his offer.

Ozpin smiled as he sat up straighter. "I'm glad to hear that Mr. Gniewek. There are a few matters that will have to be addressed, your team placement, your weapons, your attire, and learning to use your aura." Ozpin said as he gestured to Jarek to pick up his weapons again. "While you obviously have proficiency with your weapons, if you are going to train here, you will need to have them converted to use Dust rounds, I'll let our school's weapon master, Argent Graur, know to expect you. Your attire may be suitable for combat, but you will need a school uniform. Your aura will need to be unlocked, I will ask a fellow student, Ms. Pyrrha Nikos, to help you with that. Finally, you have two options, you can be a solo Huntsmen, while you have to only look after yourself with the tradeoff being you have a higher risk of losing your life. Your other option is becoming a vagabond for team RWBY."

"Vagabond?" Jarek asked like he never heard the word in the English dictionary. It sounded entirely foreign in tone.

"Vagabond is a term for someone without a home you could say, a wanderer. Vagabond Huntsmen and Huntresses are a fifth member of a team. They are mostly independent and have less of an obligation to watch out for the team with the flipside being that the team leader, if it ever comes down to saving their team or saving the vagabond, the team leader is expected to save their team and leave the vagabond behind." Ozpin explained.

Jarek thought of the strange idea that is this 'vagabond'. Even though he may be expendable, he'll at least be part of a team. Throughout his partisan career, he would often work as a 'Lone Wolf' as one may say, but he would prefer to work with a group if he could. A Battalion is greater than one partisan.

"I think this 'vagabond' option seems more appealing, I can handle death." Jarek said sarcastically with the headmaster failing to detect the sarcasm.

Ozpin smiled slightly as he took a sip of coffee. "Splendid, I shall notify team RWBY, in the meantime, I believe you should make your way to the armory. To get there, leave my office and turn right and follow the hall until you reach a set of stairs, follow them down three flights and it will be the third door on the left." Ozpin instructed him.

"Thanks," Jarek said, retrieving his weapons, G43, Blyskawica, TT-33, Hatchet, and his shiv knife and placing them over his back with his crude but sturdy sling and walked out and left Ozpin's office following his instructions carefully. Or just looking at all the directional signs across the school.

Upon reaching the door to the armory, Jarek could have sworn he heard music from the other side of it as he opened it he saw a tall, muscular man in a leather jerkin with a cloak of silvery grey material around his shoulders with a flute to his lips as he was playing a soft tune.

"Uh...Excuse me...But I believe you can hel-" Jarek said before he was interrupted when the man held up one finger, stopping him as he continued to play the flute as he stood over a blade on the forge. After about a minute, the song slowed and then ended as the man set the flute down he picked up the blade and examined it before setting it to the side and turning to face Jarek. His face seemed at once both friendly and hardened, his eyes seemed odd, almost golden in color and only one seemed to blink. His hair was a silvery grey a shade lighter than his cloak and tied back in a smith's ponytail.

"Welcome to my armory, my name iss Argent Graur. And you musst be the newesst sstudent here at Beacon, Jarek wassn't it?" He asked after having introduced himself.

"Yes that's me. I'm in need of your services." He explained. "I was wondering what you can do with my weapons here…" He then placed all of his weapons on Argent's workbench. He thought for a minute about the strange slurring with the S's but quickly dismisses it as a speech issue. Argent picked up the G43 and examined the rifle.

"Interessting, relatively light, obvioussly meant to lasst, sstrangely small caliber for Dust roundss." He said, half to Jarek and half to himself.

"That's because my weapons, as strange as it may sound, don't use Dust. It uses a different type of propellent." Jarek explained grabbing one of his Blyskawica mags and getting one of the bullets out of it and showed it to Argent. Accepting the object, Argent began turning over in his fingers.

"Hmm, ssmaller than a Dusst round, ssimilar in sshape, I wonder…." He said before walking over to a different workbench and setting the bullet down as he pulled out his flute and began to play it.

Much to Jarek's amazement, by the sound of the music, his bullet began to disassemble itself! _My God, this place is awesome already._ He thought as the Argent got out the powder. Argent finished playing and set the flute aside as he pulled out a contraption he placed over one eye and flipped down a magnifying lense as he examined the powder.

"Granular, dark in color, no noticeable odor, I can't ssensse anything from it with my Aura, artificially made perhapss." He muttered to himself as he looked at it

"You're right on the last count, Argent." He confirmed. "From where I come from, we call it 'Gunpowder'. It's used to power all firearms and such. The only noticeable differences is the shape. Sometimes you'll see it in 'stick' form. Others in 'ball' type. The ones you see here is ballpowder."

"Hmm, and doess thiss 'gunpowder' power anything elsse in your world?" Argent asked.

"Well apart from sometimes explosives and occasionally fireworks. Which uses 'Black Powder' which is perhaps just a volatile as dust. Just that, for transport we just use plain old gasoline." He explained still feeling weirded out about the question though he thought couldn't really be surprised by it.

"Fasscinating. How volatile iss thiss ssubsstance?"

"Well, for the powder in front of you. Not as volatile as Dust. But it will take a small explosion, or a spark to set it off. But if one sneezes, it won't be enough." That moment, Jarek recalled how Ruby sneezed and the powder failed to go off.

"I ssee, now, what other weaponss do you have here?" He asked.

"Well, the rifle is the Gewehr 43. A semi-automatic rifle with a detachable eight round clip and a 4x power scope. The other gun is my Blyskawica submachine gun, with a small suppressor I attached for stealth purposes, it's devastating in close quarter combat. The pistol is the Tokarev TT-33, my sidearm when things get too hectic and a kind of a 'last resort' weapon. Lastly, there's my small hatchet, and a shiv knife." He explained to Argent, his hatchet and shiv still had traces of fresh blood on it.

"Hmm, thiss 'Blysskawica, isss it automatic or ssingle sshot with high power?"

"It's fully automatic." Jarek answered. "Safety's in front of the trigger, it's pretty much a bunch of scrap parts welded together with a spring in it but it gets the job done. As for the high power, I guess not. It's just a pistol caliber."

Argent nods as he picks up the pistol Jarek had called a 'Tokarev" and examined it before pulling back the slide and examining the inner workings. "Sstrange, outwardly the gun sseemss fine but if he had been taking care of it he would have noticed the fact thiss spring here iss about to go, it'ss core iss russted through." He says as he hums softly and the spring seems to literally slide through the side of the gun and into his palm.

"Yeah…" Jarek started. "I couldn't find any cleaning kits for that weapon. It's not quite common back home. And I suppose I kind of abused it sometimes too."

"I can ssee that, in fact, the only weapon you have here that issn't on it'ss lasst legss is the rifle," Argent said, setting the Tokarev back down.

"To be fair, my shiv is better rusted."

"Which iss why I wassn't counting that. I asssume the reasson you are here iss that I am meant to convert thesse to Dusst roundss?" He asked Jarek.

"Yup," Jarek said. "That's exactly what I need you to do. But while you're at it, can you make them transforming combination weapons too? I've seen that many of these weapons here do that and I would like to get my hands on some too. " Ever since his eyes lay upon Ruby's transforming weaponry, Jarek immediately realized the potential of the concept. Back home, you have to carry one weapon for each different purpose. A rifle for long range fights, submachine guns for close quarters, and a pistol when things really get nasty. But with these kind of transforming weapons, he could carry a two or perhaps even three weapons for the weight of one. This would mean that he would be able to carry more weapons, therefore more firepower without slowing him down. That is an absolute must have.

Argent nods as he picks up the rifle and sets it on his forge and grabbed his flute and several other items.

"Any preference on the type of Dusst roundss you would like to be able to fire?"

Jarek gave that question a good three minutes of thought. He has not much knowledge of the various types of Dust. Maybe something good for beginners? Then again, his submachine is called a Blyskawica for crying out loud. It means "Lightning" in his native tongue. Argent as he is waiting is examining the Blyskawica when he notices the buttstock has designs of lightning bolts incised in the metal. "I have a ssuggesstion for the Dusst element. How do you feel about lightning?" He asked, turning to face Jarek, his cloak and jerkin shifting slightly, revealing for a brief second what looks like a scale pattern on his chest before it is covered again.

"Lightning? Hell yes!" Exclaimed the excited Jarek. Argent chuckled at his enthusiasm as he set the Blyskawica down again.

"It will take me a few hourss, why don't you ssee about getting your sschool uniform and sscroll asss well asss having your Aura unlocked." Argent said as he turned to his work. "Oh and one lasst thing, that ssymbol you wear on your arm, that iss your emblem right?"

Jarek took a brief glance at his Home Army armband that has the colors of Poland with the Kotwica and three lightning bolts woven into it.

"This? Sure I suppose so. It's not exactly a personal one, but the lightning bolt is." He explained.

His armband he created is designed so it gives away his allegiance and so he can avoid friendly fire from fellow AK. Honestly though, it was actually more of a calling card. Every time he conducted an attack on the Wehrmacht or the SS, he would always leave behind that symbol. It was to show the enemy that he alone is responsible for the attack and no civilians are to be harmed. That didn't always worked of course. Many SS and General Government officials would still massacre tens of hundreds. Many of them payed for that decision with their lives.

Argent nods as he turns to his work, putting his flute to his lips as he began to play, obviously dismissing Jarek.

Jarek then exited the armory, leaving the fate of his weapons in the hands of a stranger that obviously knows what he's doing. Not knowing where to turn he found a bench outside the armory, got his journal out from his bread bag and began to write a couple passages. Since he doesn't know about how time works here in Remnant, he wrote the date as 'nieznany'...'unknown' with a question mark 1944!?. He wrote about what happened to him and sketch a few pictures ranging from these creatures of 'Grimm' to some of Remnant's inhabitants. Before the war hit, he had a talent at art, mostly drawing and painting. He was due to become an artist apprentice at Warsaw before the war hit. Even though he didn't had much time to revisit the old skill, he never really lost it.

As Jarek sat there, he heard the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him. He turns around and he sees a redheaded girl with green eyes wearing what appeared to be ancient Greek/Roman armor straight out of a history book. But it seems more Greek than anything else.

"Hello, you must be the new student Prof. Ozpin mentioned, I'm Pyrrha Nikos, the fellow student he mentioned who'd help you unlock your Aura." She said in greeting.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Jarek Gniewek." He introduced himself in a friendly tone of voice. Pyrrha smiled and extended her hand which Jarek shook.

"Ozpin didn't mention where you are from and I don't recognize your accent." She said as she turned to start walking, expecting him to follow. _Yeah, of course you don't_ Jarek thought to himself as he followed right alongside her.

"Yeah, I'm from far away...very far away…" He explained while chuckling a bit to lighten up the mood, not exactly sure how to explain that he's basically from an alternate dimension. Probably not a good idea to explain it right now.

Pyrrha nods and accepts the explanation as she keeps walking, eventually leading them to a room with various diagrams of Aura fields and how Dust interacts. "Okay, here we are," She said, turning to face him.

"What is this place?" He asked recognizing some of the Dust.

"This is the classroom for Dust, Aura, and its Applications." She answered, gesturing around them.

"So what exactly are you going to do?"

"I'm planning to unlock your Aura, usually people do it themselves subconsciously, but sometimes it is required for someone to have their Aura unlocked."

It feels strange for Jarek to think of 'unlocking' someone's Aura. Sounds like they have a secret little chest of goodies for him somewhere with a key but that sounds ridiculous. The word 'unlock' seems misplaced, but he'll see where this is going.

Pyrrha smiles and sets one hand on Jarek's shoulder as the air around her glowed with her Aura as she began speaking. "For it in passing that we achieve immortality, through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee." She said, after finishing she opened her eyes expectantly.

It was then something happened that Jarek never thought could happen...his entire body glowed a bright goldish red tint! It seemed his body is glowing! Something straight out of a witch movie. Yet at the same time, the glowing carried with it a strange soothing sensation. Something that feels easy...something in his spirit had become more at ease...something part of him...his innocence had been restored perhaps...no...that's not the right way to put it...or maybe. Peace. Whatever it was, it was the greatest feeling since his thirteenth birthday. Whatever this 'Aura' thing is, it drove Jarek speechless. This was a phenomenon that was nothing he had ever seen before nor imagine. The only thing he could say was. "Umm...Thanks...?"

Pyrrha smiled and nodded. "My pleasure, after all, we can't fight Grimm with only our weapons." She said.

"So, what happens now?" The partisan asked.

"Now I believe you need to meet up with Ms. Goodwitch to get your room assignment and scroll." The red-headed Spartan told him.

"Right...umm by the way...where exactly is she…?" He asked. At that moment Goodwitch walked through the door.

"Ah, Mr. Gniewek, I see Ms. Nikos was successful. If you would please follow me." She said before turning and walking out. Jarek did what he was told and follow suit, feeling that he can trust her, it's not like she's going to turn him in to the Nazis. He highly doubts that anyone of them even know what a Nazi is. After seeing Pyrrha Nikos, Jarek knew he had to keep where he came from quiet and discreet, as far as anyone is concerned at this school, he's a new student from somewhere far away. Maybe he'll be able to tell the story to someone else at some point.

They moved to where what seemed to be the other half of the castle they call a school and Jarek seen many other students who were equipped with strange weaponry and sometimes armor that could had only come from some person's fond imagination, and in some cases a fevered nightmare. A few of them even gave some confused glances at him like he was a strange phenomenon or something. _Guess I can't blame them._ He thought to himself. _If I were in their shoes I would have done the same thing._

At some point a few minutes later Glynda lead Jarek to a strange room full of advanced technology...computers... the word was conceived in his mind. Computers were those huge bulky machines that were able to make mathematical calculations at the speed of light. Only the government or military had things such as that. These seem much more advanced than that.

Ms. Goodwitch directed him to a table clustered with those devices he'd seen her wield just hours before.

"Pick one." She said. To Jarek's untrained and ignorant mind they all looked the same. So in his mind he did a sort of eni-mimi-moe sort of approach to it and picked a random one. It was light but felt very sturdy, something that seemed could take some punishment.

"Thanks…" He said.

"That will be your new scroll. Do you wish to register a name to it?" She asked politely.

"A Name…? I get to name this thing?"

"Of course." She answered. "It's customary for everyone here in Remnant to name it, since most look the same outwardly it helps get them back to their owner if lost. Just activate it and it'll take you to a step by step process and you will be ready to go. In the meantime, I will take you to your room."

Then they walked some more to what seemed like the other side of the school and to where what seemed to be the living quarters of all the students here and eventually, they stopped at just one particular red door. Glynda handed Jarek a card. At first he was confused on what it was but quickly realized that it was a key.

"Slide it down like this," Ms. Goodwitch instructed showing the proper motion and Jarek dutifully did so. The door cracked open and the two entered. The dorm room had four red-quilted beds side by side each other and was about just a little more spacious than his dugout back in Poland.

"This will be your room for the time being until your initiation. Since you are the Vagabond of Team RWBY and a male, you will have your own room to yourself for the foreseeable future."

 _Well damn, that's pretty nice deal_ Jarek thought to himself. _Dangerous and beautiful indeed._

"Your initiation will begin next morning after breakfast, assuming your weapons are ready. I would suggest that you be prepared. Anyway make yourself at home, I'll send Team RWBY here to meet you for breakfast tomorrow. However, you won't be taking classes until you passed the initiation." Then she left and closed the door behind her, leaving Jarek to his own devices. He then proceeded to finally take stock in his surroundings. He sat on one of the beds, he dropped his backpack and bread bag on the other and finally was able to lie down and relax without a gun gauntlet thing being pressed hard against him. He used those first few minutes to let what all happened to soak in and get him to accept it, take a deep breath and so on. This cannot possibly be a dream, even though part of him may wish it were so. That in reality he's probably been taken to a Gestapo headquarters if there was anything left of him.

After lying down, he registered his Scroll added all of the personal information in...well as much as he could that is. Too bad there isn't a Polish language setting on this. Even though he spoke fluent english with Ozpin, that took a lot of effort to say for him, as he only talked english with his parents...and at home. When it asked for a name, it required four letters followed by a dash and a series of letters. After some thought, Jarek settled on 1683-VIENNA after the Polish-Austrian-German Victory against the Ottoman Turks thanks to his people's winged Hussars.

He just then remembered that he may still have his battle colors still in his backpack somewhere and he took most of his stuff out of the pack. And low and behold, there were his battle colors. A double white and red twin stripe flag with a huge black Kotwica at the center of it woven in by a lightning bolt. He unfolded that torn and blood stained banner out in front of him. He made it himself many years ago. On one of the walls there was a few nails which were conveniently placed there. _If this is going to be where I live for a while, may as well._ He then hung the battle flag for all to see. In all its shattered glory. But it still gives him something to be proud of. If anyone sees it and asks questions, he'll just say that it's his flag and it's something personal. With that done, Jarek went on the bed closest to the window, lied down and gave into his body's demands for a few hours' sleep, with his fedora covering his eyes. It seems like near sun set, but in all honesty, he doesn't care. Been a long day for him.

 _Five Years Ago...October 1939_

 _The truck drove for who knows how long as the SS security battalions began to round up more and more boys of 'Nordic' heritage and taking them to who knows where and herding them onto the same truck. Jarek and the other boys were at the very front where the four SS soldiers could easily control them without having to worry about escaping too much. He didn't know what exactly what was going on, all he could hear was the rumble of the truck's engines and the SS soldiers making small talk to each other and some were singing about how much Aryan blood they 'rescued' from the Polaks. Such songs of absolute hatred. All Jarek could think of was how he can escape from their clutches and avoid getting to Germany._

 _But fate, would seem to have been on his side today. Suddenly, the truck slowly started to wobble and it began to slow down and ground to a halt._

" _What the hell has happened?" One of the SS men shouts to the driver._

" _I don't know. I think its engine trouble." The driver replied._

" _Then for God's sake repair it! We need to deliver kids to the office before dawn! Or it's your head!"_

 _All Jarek could hear and see was all the SS soldiers except one dismounting from the truck and trying to see what was going on. Now he can hear a muffled conversation but he didn't give a damn about their trouble. Maybe it will get set him free. Then another SS man tells the last one who's guarding them to get off and help with them or something. This was his chance. Jarek turned to the boy next to him, a blond of the same age._

" _Hey," He whispered to him in Polish. "Want to bail?" He asked. The kid was obviously frightened and intimidated by the bulky captors._

" _Ne, no way I'm doing that." He replied his legs shaking._

" _How about the rest of you?" Jarek asks. They were all intimidated as they could not possibly overpower the SS and some didn't seem to want to go. They may want to go to Germany. 'So it's just me,' he thought to himself. 'Just me.' The guards seemed distracted with their work and would give him an adequate route to escape. All outside, the captors had the canvas flaps open and it's a straight shot from here to the forest. He just needs to escape._

 _He stood up and went back to the other side of the truck, quietly tip toed off of the truck and then ran like hell towards the forest. He would had gotten away clean if the leaves hadn't betrayed his presence. Then there were shouts of 'HALT! HALT! HALT!' followed by the occasional sound of a Mauser going off. He sprinted in zig-zags to try to avoid their fire. When he glanced behind his shoulder, he could see them following in desperate pursuit but were quickly falling behind. The Pole's speed was unmatched and he quickly lost sight of him. However, as he escaped from one beast, he ran into another one. It was then he accidentally bumped into another German soldier! He fell down to see through the darkness, a young soldier, seemingly newly minted, stood there excitedly pointing his rifle at him with the muzzle within two inches of his head like a predator acquiring prey. He seemed to have heard the gunshots and came to his comrades to aid them._

' _Oh no, I'm dead.' Jarek thought. 'This cannot be good.'_

' _You thought you could run from us, junge?' the soldier said. 'We're everywhere now! We've won!' Now this has made Jarek pissed off being treated like a damn child, like an animal, these bastards will pay. He bobbed his head around and found a stone within arm's reach. 'There's my way out.'_

 _He then spit into his face, blinded him temporarily and of course angered him. Then he grabbed the stone and chucked it as hard as he could at him. It caused immense pain and discomfort to him long enough to lose grip of his rifle in an effort to ease the pain with his hand. A human reaction but fatal. Just enough time for Jarek to yank it from his grasp and thrust the stock into his gut and forced him down to the ground. He stood up and proceeded to take the rifle, and loot some of the ammo, but a wounded animal is more dangerous than a healthy one. The soldier managed to get a grip on Jarek's legs with his own and force him on the ground again. He got up again too. But the tables were already turned. With the strange training his father gave him, Jarek flipped the Mauser around and pointed the muzzle at his captor. But the soldier was not amused yet alone alarmed by the child's desperate attempts to escape him. He tried to grab the rifle from the muzzle end and regain the hold on it. Jarek hesitated to shoot him but he realized he had little choice. He yanked the trigger and the Nazi's face blew up with bits of blood flying onto his face._

 _Jarek breathed hard and couldn't believe what he's done. 'I killed him...I killed him...' that's all he could think of. 'I killed him...' this wasn't the time to think. The soldiers could be on him at any moment. He got the rifle over his shoulder and zoomed away from the scene of carnage and deeper into the forest leaving the mangled body of the soldier behind._


	5. Initiation

**Chapter 5: Initiation**

 _Remnant, Beacon Academy Cafeteria_

It was just about dinner time, and Team RWBY and JNPR managed to get to the cafeteria to get their food and sit by each other as usual. But then there was the day's events that kind of confused them to the core. Almost everyone was thinking about the events that occurred during the training exercise and its sudden cancellation. Team RWBY knew why, it was that young man with a weird accent that had stumbled upon their training exercise and killed a whole group of White Fang. It's quite an achievement given what his weapons looked like.

"So guys, weird that the training exercise was cancelled huh? I wonder why? Maybe it had something to do with that big flash. I was having fun with my new toy when I saw it, unfortunately Ren broke it." Nora said, rapidly turning into rambling about riding an Ursa. Team RWBY shot each other glances, unsure if they should reveal they knew exactly the reason it was called off.

"Maybe there was some form of danger?" Pyrrha wondered aloud as they all began eating.

"Well, we may know something." Weiss said hesitantly at which team JNPR turned to face her and the rest of team RWBY.

"Ooh ooh ooh, was it aliens? It was aliens wasn't it?! Ren we have to get ready for the alien invasion!" Nora said, grabbing Ren and shaking him. Ren sighed and stopped Nora.

"Sorry about that, you were saying Weiss?"

"Well, during the exercise, we saw that flash that Nora was talking about and Blake ran off in its direction, when she got there, she found a stranger. The stranger seemed confused so we brought him to Ms. Goodwitch."

Pyrrha frowned as if she had just thought of something. "Was he almost six foot, blue eyes, chocolate brown hair? Spoke with a strange accent?" She asked at which Ruby looked up in surprise.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" She asked.

"I just helped him unlock his Aura, I was told he was a student." Pyrrha said, just as confused as Ruby.

"Well, that's quite a coincidence," Blake said. "We took him to Professor Ozpin's office directly with Ms. Goodwitch and he ordered us to leave so he could talk with him. Perhaps it had something to do with that?" It was at that moment, Ms. Goodwitch showed up as if on cue and said, "Team RWBY, will you please come with me." She asked. The four members of team RWBY followed her to a more secluded place in the cafeteria where not too many people can hear.

"Is this about the guy we captured?" Ruby asked curiously like she knows what's coming. Glynda decided to explain the news in a more professional way.

"Yes, Ms. Rose. Jarek Gniewek, after some talk with the headmaster, has decided to attend Beacon Academy and will join your team temporarily as a Vagabond." That was the news that stunned Team RWBY and placed all the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Wait, you mean that sloppy kid's going to attend our academy!?" Retorted Weiss. "So, he suddenly appears out of nowhere and we offer to let him join the school!? How insane!"

"Well to be fair, this Jarek guy wiped out a whole group of White Fang with some ease. And he killed the Urza that I failed to notice." Blake mentioned, giving the new kid the benefit of the doubt. Some of them began to worry that they'll have to share their room with a guy, but that fear was quickly calmed when Glynda assured them that he'll have a room of his own.

"Well thank goodness for that." Weiss said. "But that's still a little unfair." She muttered thinking that getting her own room would be a nice idea. Ruby smiled and cheered.

"Hooray! This means I get to look at his weapons more!" She said, her eyes sparkling at which Yang chuckled.

"He probably got his weapons changed to fire Dust rounds little sis." She said at which Ruby pouted for about a second before her eyes grew even bigger. "That means I'll get to take a close look at both an exotic weapon and one modified by Argent the one eyed snake Faunus smith!" She said, seemingly on cloud nine at the prospect.

"Now, he's going to do his initiation tomorrow after receiving his weapons. So once he's finished with it, I want you to help integrate him into Beacon. Are you up to the task?" Glynda asked.

"We will sure do it Ms. Goodwitch!" Ruby said. "And I'm so excited!"

 _The Next Morning…_

Jarek woke up feeling refreshed, even though he admittedly smelled very filthy. Who wouldn't be? He decided to take a quick shower, take a bite to eat from the last stash of German rations and get all of his non-gun weapons ready. Even though he surrendered most of his weapons, he still had a molotov in his possession as well as the home made smoke bombs he made back home.

Just as he got ready, he noticed there was a letter slipped underneath the door and he read it and it was from that Argent guy and he said to report to the armory as his weapons are ready. He then exited his room and made his way down there, using his new scroll telling him where to go. _Damn, it's only one day and I'm already loving this thing!_ He thought. _If only I had this back home we could have won the whole war by now!_ Eventually, he reached the armory again, where the weapon smith was waiting for him. And on the table, were a set of olive green/black/brown colored set of weapons which resembled his original.

"Ah good, I wass jusst about to ssend for you." Argent said as he saw Jarek walk in. Argent walked up to the table and picked up the largest of the weapons on the table. "Thiss one combiness the Blysskawica and your rifle." He told him as he held up the Blyskawica form before pressing on a small plate on the side and the gun began to rearrange itself until it was the rifle. The submachine gun variation of his 'new' weapon has similar lightning engravings all across the weapon. "Next iss your pisstol and knife." He said as he picked up the pistol before pressing a small button and it morphed into his knife. "Finally comess a sslight addition to your arssenal. Your hatchet now can change into a high power revolver." He said as he set it back down. Jarek was amazed at the workmanship of his new weapons. There were nothing short of amazing.

"These weapons are amazing!" Jarek exclaimed holding out his new weapons and placing them in his holsters but leaving out the new high powered revolver for inspection. "So what is this revolver for?"

"That'ss for when thingss get too hectic for you. For extreme closse quarterss. Asss your weaponss are ssomewhat underpowered, I decided to give you ssome extra sstrength." He explained.

"Can I give my new weapons a test?" Jarek asked.

"Of coursse. The firing range iss right there." Argent said pointing out the small three lane shooting range for weapons. Jarek retrieved his new weapons and all the ammo and mags that came with it. He went up to the range, decided to try the rifle and fired off a couple rounds. The rounds unleashed a frenzy of powerful lightning type Dust that totally obliterated the target. He then switched to his beloved Blyskawica and unleashed a hailstorm of dust and lead on another target. The power he felt was absolutely amazing. Then he tried out both of his reincarnated Tokarev and knife, no surprise there. Finally, he tried the revolver that resembled a futuristic high caliber revolver that should be on a movie set. When he aimed at a target the power he felt was much greater than any rifle he had ever used.

"Sso, what do you think?" Argent asked the soon to be huntsmen-in-training.

"...I have become Death, destroyer of worlds." Jarek murmured softly. "This is nothing short of excellent. Thanks, Argent." He then paused for a moment. "I would like to name the revolver 'GRUNWALD'. Can you do an engraving or something like that?"

"Certainly." Argent replied, as he took the revolver and a small reed whistle and played it and the desired engraving appeared along the barrel.

"Thank you." Jarek said. "I'll make sure I repay you someday." With that he left the armory with his new 'Dustified' weaponry and was met by Glynda Goodwitch.

"Ahhh, Mr. Gniewek," She said. "I'm sure that you had a good night's rest?"

"Yes, I certainly did." Jarek replied, in a strangely foreign sense of calm.

"Good, now come this way please. You initiation will begin as soon as you arrive."

For the initiation, Jarek stood at a great cliff overlooking what Ozpin called 'The Emerald Forest'. Standing on top of a strange device. All of his new weapons were at the ready. "Good morning Mr. Gniewek, I trust you slept well?"

Normally for an initiation, he would have students partner up before going on to an objective. But this is a rare exception as the initiation has to be slightly simplified for just one person.

"Sure, I suppose." Jarek answered, an almost unnoticeable hint of grogginess in his voice. "So, how's is this initiation going to work?"

"You see the platform you are standing on?" He asked as he took a sip of coffee. Jarek tilted his head down and looked at the silvery metal of the platform and nodded a solid yes. He didn't wanted to exhaust his English all that quickly. Only what's necessary to get to the point. Yesterday with Ozpin, he threw every little bit effort he had into speaking. He needs all the energy to do this 'initiation'.

"Well, that platform will be your means of entering the Emerald Forest. Once there you need to find some old ruins and collect an artifact from there and make it back here." Jarek took a good half a minute to process that all in his head, translating it in his mind from English to Polish and get the basic idea of what he's saying.

"Right," Jarek said. "So...get to ruins...get artifact...get back here...got it!"

"Do not hesitate, do not stay your finger on your trigger or your grip on your blades for doing so will mean death." Ozpin said. Jarek then forced himself to do some nervous laughter to lighten the mood. It wasn't like he was a coward or anything, quite the opposite. In fact, he's probably the most courageous partisan in the whole of the Home Army. He just doesn't know what to expect. If there's more of those 'Grimm' out there like he killed back at the forest, then he might just stand a chance.

"In a minute you will be launched into the forest, take that time to decide your landing strategy." Ozpin told him.

"Umm...no parachute? Okay." Landing strategy? _Who's right mind is it being launched into a heap of forest without a parachute. But in a minute, guess you have to come up with something, right?_ In those last few seconds before the launch, Jarek managed to unholster his pistols and switch them into the bladed forms. They felt they were part of his family, but at the same time, they weren't. They feel much lighter, almost like toys.

"Best of luck." Ozpin told him just as the platform sprung upwards and sent Jarek flying. He tumbled and twisted himself in the air like a badly thrown football and he yelled and cursed to himself in Polish as he tried to gain his balance. Somehow, with almost insane courage, he managed to get his bearings and held out his axe as he was plummeting towards a tree branch, but it was too dizzying as he was somersaulting in midair. Somehow, some way, his hatchet managed to grab a tree branch and he spun several dozen times before the sheer momentum forced him onto the ground. Thanks to his forest tracking skills taught by his father, he landed with another somersault and finally landed on solid ground.

"Oh thank God!" He cried quietly. "I'm never leaving this ground!" He sat down for a few seconds to get his bearings, take a deep breath after almost plummeting to his death. _How the hell did I manage to do that?_ He asked to himself. _At least I'm still alive, eh?_ Realizing what he must do now, Jarek checked his new weapons. Still there thank God. And then sprinting as fast as he could in the direction opposite of the cliff towards where he believes the temple is located.

Within just one mile of his landing zone in this, 'Emerald Forest' Jarek spotted a pack of five wolf like Grimm. He switched to his rifle variant of his main armament and aimed at one of them. They didn't seem to notice him and he considered bypassing them, but figured he'll have to fight them anyway. He quietly squeezed the trigger and the gun unleashed a hellish Dust round of high electric charge. The wolf was electrocuted after one bullet. He moved on to the next target and the next one, and sooner than he knew it, they were all dead and their bodies started to fade, all before they managed to move more than a few steps. Satisfied by the power of his new weaponry, Jarek pressed on. It was only another minute that he heard a loud roar as a trio of bear like Grimm came charging through the trees. Jarek tried to go for his rifle but the Ursa managed to pin him down quicker than he could say 'Dupa'. Desperately he slowly reached for Grunwald while trying to prevent himself from being ripped apart from these abominations of fairytales. It took what seemed an agonizing minute to finally grab it, pressed it against the Ursa's cheek and fired and its head was blown off in an explosion of Grimm brain matter. He pushed himself free, pick himself up, and confronted the two other Ursas pointing Grunwald at them. The Ursas seemed hesitant to try to attack him recklessly like their now late friend.

"Who is next?" Jarek chanted at them. These things may not have souls, but they're not stupid. They swirled around the Partisan and went for a two pronged attack, one went for the front as the other went for a crushing blow to the rear. Jarek though, saw this coming and shot the Ursa in front with Grunwald then turned around, switched it to the hatchet form and slashed the second one's head off. He then moved again north towards the temple.

A few miles later, he encountered another snag in his quest for the temple, a giant two-headed snake. 'Oh for the love of….' He muttered in Polish as he dodged the striking heads once again. He'd managed to blind the white headed one and broke on of the fangs in the black headed one's mouth but he had since been unable to launch another attack. Finally, he decided to try something a bit different as he grabbed the Molotov on his belt but his lighter was knocked away as he attempted to light it. "Dupa!" He spat as he dove for the lighter, flicked it and lit the Molotov, turned, and hurled the incendiary object straight into the snake's open mouth. As the Molotov exploded in a large fireball, the snake appeared to be shocked at what had happened and started to burn from the inside out, killing it within a minute or two burning the insides with the fire of hell. However, some of the flames reached Jarek's clothes and began burning at his clothes. Jarek jumped backward and began rolling on the ground, beating his clothes as well. After rolling for at least a couple of meters, the burning had stopped but his pants and overcoat are black with burning decay and smelled of smoke. "Damn...That was my last good camouflage! Scarf is ruined too." He said to himself. Then he left the burning snake to its fiery fate. "Burn in hell, kurwa." He thought to himself aloud. "This is what you get for trying to kill a partisan. Well, no matter. Gotta get to that temple."

Eventually, he managed to reach the ruined temple; which consisted of a sort of circular rounded plaza and at regular intervals, there were a couple of oversized chess pieces. This must be a sheer coincidence that chess must exist in this 'Remnant' world and people play it here. Perhaps Remnant had a little more in common with his world than he thought. At the center there was a white King and a black one, followed by each of their respective side's pieces, Queen, Bishops, Knights, Rooks. There was so many to choose from. The only question was which one to take? Time for choosing was limited as there was what appeared to be a whole swarm of those wolf Grimm about to try to attack him. Guess the ragged and burnt clothing was a dead giveaway of his position. They perhaps have very good senses of smell. He had to pick a piece quickly. Ultimately, he decided to pick the humble White Knight piece. As it reflected his people's heritage and his own as a cunning and ruthless Partisan who would stop at nothing to liberate his people from oppression and tyranny.

Jarek then switched to his submachine gun variant of Blyskawica and unleashed hell on the Beowolves who stood in his way to safety. Many Beowolves fell down at the hands of the lightning Dust rounds, but there was so many of them, he had to figure out a way to escape and get back to the cliff. As he was reloading, he was about to insert a new Dust mag into his weapon as he went into his bread bag, he notice he had a couple of homemade smoke bombs left. _Praise the Lord and the Virgin Mary or whatever God or Deity that rules the realm._ He thought to himself. He pulled out one of the tin-can smoke bombs that still had the soup logos on them, pulled the make shift pin and threw it into the swarming pack. The thick and blinding smoke appeared to do its job and managed to blind them. He could even hear some of their whimpering as they tried to figure out what was going on. If he knew himself, the smoke should last a good minute or two. After he put on his gas mask, Jarek made a desperate one man charge right against the Beowulf through the smoke.

"For Poland!" He chanted in english behind the mask as he was shooting and electrocuting everything in front of him, clearing a pathway for his escape. He must have slain a good dozen Beowolves or so. Finally, he managed to exit the smoke and was in the clearing towards the cliff. He made a dash faster than a mad rabbit trying to escape the stomach of a fox.

After many minutes of dashing he seemed to lose the Beowolves and his legs were now burning with exhaustion. He must have ran for at least seven kilometers without stopping. It was hell. But he finally had made it to the back of the cliff, but how was he supposed to get back up there?

The cliff was at least one hundred meters tall, and his legs were exhausted. The Beowolves could show up here any minute and rip him apart like a piece of canvas. Only one thing left to do.

After putting his gasmask and chess prize in the satchel sack, Jarek grabbed out his Tokarev and Grunwald, transformed them into their melee weapons and started to rock climb up the cliff. Even though Grunwald wasn't designed to do such a thing, but it seemed to work just fine, as it was able to dig through into the hard rock with ease. _I owe my life to you, Argent_ Jarek thought to himself. But damned if he was going to leave the ground yet again. The climbing took many more agonizing minutes as his energy was reaching depleted levels. For a couple of moments, he thought that he might just fall to his death. Somehow, someway, he managed to get to the very top and once he got there he collapsed due to exhaustion. Where team RWBY, Professor Ozpin and Ms. Goodwitch were awaiting him.

"Ah, welcome back Mr. Gniewek." Ozpin said as he took a calm sip from his coffee mug.

"Thank you." Jarek said. "Here's relic," He got out his satchel and held out the White Knight piece which Ozpin took from his weary hand. His body was exhausted but he somehow managed to stand up. Team RWBY was a little surprised if not stunned at how the Partisan looked all ragged and everything using that strange bomb he used.

"That was an…..interesting weapon you used against the King Taijitu, Jarek." Blake said, a note of question in her voice. Jarek managed to gather some extra energy, maybe it was the dwindling adrenaline.

"Yeah, I'll explain it later." Jarek panted down in an attempt to catch his breath.

"Mr. Gniewek is obviously utterly spent. Ms. Xiao Long, could you help him to his room and we shall question him in detail tomorrow." Glynda said as Yang nodded and slung Jarek's arm over her shoulder as she helped him upright. As RWBY and Jarek turned to go, Ozpin cleared his throat.

"Oh and Mr. Gniewek, one more thing." Ozpin said, prompting Jarek to look in his direction. "Welcome to Beacon."

 _Five Years Ago...November 1939_

 _The morning fog came as the fugitive known as Jarek Gniewek made his way deeper into the forest in an attempt to get back to his cabin and to find out what happened to his mother. He carried his stolen Mauser on his back and walked silently back home. Thanks to what his Father taught him, Jarek knew these forests well, like the back of his hand, so he knew how to get back to his house. By noon, he managed to get back to the cabin he calls home. The front door was strangely still wide open, he entered into it and found it to be ransacked of everything useful and in the living room where he was having dinner the last evening, and he found his mother's body. Her corpse was covered with his favorite striped blanket of his childhood. He was morbidly curious of what happened to his mother and he forced himself to lift up the blanket. What he saw was too disturbing for words and caused him to go outside and puke up whatever dinner he had managed to eat and then cry for who knows how long in front of the porch at the loss of his mother. Sadness and grief were mixed with anger and hatred and filled the heart and mind of the young Pole. Somehow with some mental strength, Jarek went back to the mangled body of his mother, his beloved mother who was defiled and slain at the hands of these Nazi monsters. He stood up and looked at the corpse that was his mother. "I will avenge you, mother." Jarek said to her spirit. "I will kill those who did this to you. I swear to god I will kill every last one of them! I will not stop until they're all DEAD! I promise that to you!" He proclaimed as he punched his fist into the wall. Before he could go take his revenge, there were a few things he had to do._

 _He buried his mother later that day and rearranged the body as best as he could and placed her in a shallow grave outside the family home. Then, Jarek went to his parent's basement and much to his surprise, his father's wooden case was still there! Perhaps the monsters failed to discover that or they just didn't care. He pushed it into the open with the meager strength of a young man of his age and pried it open, what he found amazed him. There was his father's favorite hunting rifle. It was a Polish built Mauser rifle with a curved bolt and high powered scope designed for civilian use. Along with it there was fifteen rounds of rounds for it. There was also his Dad's favorite hat and a pair of leggings and boots that he never seen before._

 _To my beloved son: Jarek_

 _If you are reading this, then that means that I will never see you again. I'm sorry I had to leave you and your mother like this. However, I hope I didn't leave you empty handed. In here is my rifle and some other gear I left behind specifically for you in your time of need. Some of it I had back in the last war. You had always asked why you never had met your grandparents, but maybe if we see each other again, I'll be able to explain all of it. In the meantime, remember what I taught you to do and you'll get through this disaster alive. Make for the forest and never look back!_

 _-Your Father, Orzel Gniewek_

 _Jarek was reluctant to leave the only place he ever knew as home put his new jacket, and boot leggings and boots and anything else he could salvage from his home. Some of his wooden toys and a small picture of his family, which consisted of him, his father and his mother and half-brother, Piotr. The last shred of evidence that he had a family at all. He must prevent it from fading or he'll forget who he was. Once he packed everything up, Jarek made a beeline for the forest and disappeared from view. Going to who knows where, perhaps someplace to hide._

Meanwhile...Somewhere in Vale

Adam Taurus was overlooking a huge map of Vale in one of many of the White Fang's secret hideaways. His faction is still reeling from the devastation that occurred just a month earlier when the traitor and his once loyal partner known as Blake Belladonna and another traitorous Faunus had infiltrated one of their meetings and ultimately destroyed one of their new weapons they hijacked from Atlas. That could have been the winning moment where they could have shown humanity that there no longer in charge.

Unfortunately the breach of Grimm that their ally, the human Roman Torchwick, had tried to do was stopped by a large part of the students and teachers at Beacon Academy. They had stayed in his way for far too long and they needed to be dealt with in the most intimidating matter, a way that they'll never forget who they have trifled with. Too bad Blake is among them. For a moment, he sighed in regret at that decision, but it had to be done. There was a need to show that even the best and most loyal...former members of the White Fang had to be dealt with. He had sent a thirty strong raiding force on a mission to intercept a couple of teams from Beacon Academy while there were doing some sort of 'training exercise' in the forests outside Vale. All he could do now was to await the result. He'd sent them out a couple of days ago, they should signal to them at any time now of the successful mission.

"Boss...Boss!" A voice yelled, panted in between. He turned around to see one of his men who he'd sent to do the job had come back. Is the mission successful? If so where's the rest of his men.

"What is it?" Adam asked calmly. His soldier was panting really hard and his uniform was drenched with sweat and blood. "Was the mission successful?"

The soldier took a sip of water and replied.

"Successful? We were pretty much wiped out!?" He responded somewhat cynically.

"By who...the traitor and her friends?"

"Oh hell no...it was somebody else...it was just one guy. He killed everybody else. At first we thought it was some strange idiot. But then...then…" He couldn't explain what had happened. It was something beyond comprehension, beyond explanation. But Adam could tell by the soldier's expression that the explanation was obvious. The mission must have been a failure, but by who?

"Who had done this? Was it a student?"

"I don't think so. He had some weird looking weapons or something and he knew what he was doing."

"How did you survive?"

"I didn't, he let me go."

"Who?'

"Don't know. He spoke pretty broken English and did this too me." He turned around to show a blood stained symbol of what appeared to be some kind of off center anchor with lightning bolts going right through it and round it. Strange, something he'd never seen before. Obviously something new, some gang perhaps? However, someone or something had stopped them dead in their tracks. Whoever did this must pay and pay hard for humiliating the White Fang and disgracing them.

"You can rest now soldier, unfortunately, I don't tolerate failure." He said, dismissing him before with lightning quickness drawing his sword and slicing the man's throat. He then turned to one of the other soldiers in the room, a second in command and barked to him while the soldier made strangled choking noises as his life drained from him. "Whoever has done this...find him and...make him pay!"


	6. New Beginnings

_**Chapter 6: New Beginnings**_

 _Remnant, Beacon Academy_

Jarek woke up again the next morning having slept like a baby. His clothes still tattered but no longer burning thank God. Just only yesterday, he was initiated into his new school called 'Beacon Academy' which is apparently a school created to train warriors to fight the monsters known as 'Grimm'. Since he has proven that he knows how to fight after killing those White Fang guys, the rest was history. What else now awaits him?

When he rubbed his eyes, he noticed a sort of uniform at the very front of his dorm room nearby the front door. He went up to it and there was a note on top of the uniform for him.

MR. GNIEWEK,

CONGRATULATIONS FOR PASSING YOUR INITIATION. YOU ARE NOW AN OFFICIAL STUDENT OF BEACON ACADEMY. HOWEVER, IT WILL BE A COUPLE OF DAYS BEFORE YOU WILL TAKE CLASSES. FIRST YOU NEED TO RECEIVE AN ORIENTATION OF THE SCHOOL AND THE SURROUNDING CITY OF VALE. BELOW HERE IS YOUR NEW SCHOOL UNIFORM THAT YOU'LL BE WEARING DURING CLASS HOURS. THIS OF COURSE WILL SERVE AS YOUR TEMPORARY ATTIRE UNTIL YOU GET NEW CLOTHING. IN THE MEANTIME, MEET ME AT MY OFFICE FOR DEBRIEFING. THERE'S A MAP ON YOUR SCROLL IF YOU'RE HAVING TROUBLE.

-PROFESSOR OZPIN

Jarek did his morning routine before he did anything else. He took a look at the newly pressed, newly sown uniform. It was sharp and almost had some sort of shining effect. It was obviously brand new. He grinned at finally getting something that was not ever worn by anybody else. He quickly changed from his burnt and ragged clothing and into his new uniform. It fit him almost perfectly, the first thing that fitted him properly. But before he left the room for the debriefing, Jarek grabbed his prized grey fedora and his new 'Dustified' weaponry.

Jarek approached the room and walked right in, where Ozpin appeared to be waiting for him.

"Ah, Mr. Gniewek." He greeting the partisan turned huntsman-in-training. "I would like to once again congratulate you on your initiation."

"Thanks, professor." Jarek replied while Ozpin motioned for him to sit down.

"Now, it's time for debriefing. We've observed you from afar with our cameras and I would like to hear your side of the initiation."

Jarek then preceeded to tell everything on what had happened from start to finish and how harrowing the experience was in the beginning. "I never expected to be thrown and launched into a forest without a parachute. But yeah, that was awesome. So, then I did exactly what you instructed me to do, get to temple, get artifact, get back. On the way I encountered a number of those 'Grimm' you mentioned. Those things are pretty damn terrifying, especially that huge snake thing! I was lucky that I still had a Molotov or two at hand to give him a nasty case of heartburn." Jarek chuckled a bit at the way he phrased it.

"Ah yes, this 'Molotov' you mentioned to Ms. Belladonna. What exactly is it?" Ozpin asked as he took a sip of coffee.

"Well, it's called a 'Molotov Cocktail'. It's an incendiary fire bomb that is created out of materials commonly found in my world. It consisted of an alcohol bottle, diesel fuel, and a rag. Diesel fuel is a liquid that is used to power the majority of transportation from my world. However, it's very volatile like Dust and burns very well. Not even water can extinguish it. I mixed the fuel with some liquid soap and some E85 to make it stick to any surface. It's a very crude, cheap and brutal weapon, but very effective." Jarek explained enthusiastically, realizing that a weapon of that nature must be unheard of when Dust is the most common source of energy and power in this world.

"Interesting, very interesting Mr. Gniewek. Now, please continue your account of the initiation." Ozpin told him.

"Well, as I was saying. Unfortunately, I miscalculated my usage of it and some of the gasoline got onto my clothing. I had to smother the thing with dirt to put it out, by the time that was over, my clothes smelled like gasoline and had been damaged. But there was nothing I could do about them, so I pushed on. Eventually, after killing a couple more Grimm, I managed to reach the temple ruins with a variety of chess pieces. Personally I was astonished to find something familiar from my world, back there, we play chess as well! But with Grimm closing in on me, I had to pick. So I decided to pick the white knight piece."

"I see, and why exactly did you pick the white knight piece?" Ozpin asked him.

"It's quite simple. Poland, my country, was known for our fierce cavalry centuries ago. My people wore wings to make them look like they were flying and masks of steel to look like we were machines unafraid of the enemy. More importantly though, a knight represents a defender who moves quickly and decisively, almost exactly like a partisan like myself."

"Interesting."

"Once I picked it, there a whole swarm of wolf-like Grimm. I knew I couldn't take 'em all out at once. So I got my gasmask on, popped a smoke grenade at them and charged them with my submachine to clear a path for my way out. Then, I got to the cliff, I had no idea what to do then. But quickly I decided to try to rock climb my way up with my melee weapons. Then I made it to you all and that Yang person dragged me back to my room. And that was that."

"An impressive tale Mr. Gniewek. As I said on the cliff, welcome to Beacon. You shall not start classes for a few days so that you can familiarize yourself with Beacon and the city of Vale." Ozpin told him as he sat back and sipped from his mug. Suddenly, Jarek got a quick idea in his mind.

"Professor, is it alright if I modify my uniform in anyway? Like in a minor way." He asked hesitantly showing his partially burnt but still functioning armband with a symbol that is now universally identified and considered as his emblem, not knowing of the reaction he'll face.

"Of course, I encourage my students to express their individuality," Ozpin told him. At this Jarek smiled and thank him.

"You are now dismissed, Mr. Gniewek." Jarek went outside and suddenly there was team RWBY, the same team that captured him just two days ago, greeted him with surprise.

"WELCOME TO BEACON, JAREK!" They all cheered out, except the one they call 'Weiss'. Who seemed to be more reluctant than the rest, she appears to be a little cold. But hey, what could he do about it?

"So how does it feel being a student here Jarek?" Blake asked him.

"Haven't been in school for a few years. But it feels refreshing. A fresh start." He replied in a somewhat shy fashion.

"Come on, we got a tour to do!" Ruby said as she began to practically drag Jarek down the hall, much to the partisan's surprise. Over the next couple of hours, Team RWBY, gave Jarek a tour of the entire school. Ranging from the classrooms, to the ever so monstrously sized cafeteria in which they had lunch with Team JNPR. Jarek recognized Pyrrha Nikos, the one who unlocked that Aura thing and looked like a Spartan, though an Amazon would be more accurate. And there were three other people that Jarek didn't recognized. It was then a ginger-haired girl spoke up excitedly.

"Hello! I bet you're that person these guys mentioned showed up during the training exercise. Darn, and I was kinda hoping for aliens, I had a whole plan and everything, it involved me, Ren, six bags of potatoes, a sloth, and a can of spray cheese." Nora said in her usual hyper fashion.

"Yup. That would be me. Nice to meet you all. I'm Jarek Gniewek." He introduced himself holding out his hand expecting a handshake. But what he got was the hardest handshake he ever had in his life as the orange haired girl shook him hard and almost dizzying him. Once that was over, he shook the sensation out of this body.

"Ummm...you 'Queen of Castle'?" He asked curiously realizing the fact that her voice sounded very familiar, the first voice he encountered in this strange world.

"Yep! That's me! Jaune and Pyrrha are my knights and Ren is my royal jester! He's one of the grumpier ones you'll ever meet." Nora said happily, at which Ren sighed.

"Sorry about that, she sometimes has a tenuous grasp on reality. My name is Lie Ren but please call me Ren. Nora is a childhood friend, you've already met Pyrrha, and the blond is Jaune Arc, our leader." Ren said in his usual monotone voice.

"Nice to meet you all," Jarek said, can't help himself but chuckle at Nora's hilarious hyperactivity.

"So Jarek. You mentioned when I met you were from far away, where exactly are you from?" Pyrrha asked him. Jarek was a little reluctant to explain that he's from a different world other than Remnant. Or otherwise they might label him a delusional or insane. But there was no outright hiding it whatsoever. But where to strike a balance?

"Well. It's a little hard to explain. But I guess one could say that I'm 'Not of this world'-" Jarek said before being interrupted by a gasp from Nora.

"You are an alien! I was right! Quick, Ren, activate emergency protocol 'Alien invasion'!" Nora yelled as she pulled Magnhild seemingly from nowhere and swung at Jarek. The latter stared wide eyes at the monstrous hammer. The size of it was insanely beyond any practical use. But apparently it wasn't so here in this world.

"No! No! No! Not like that you idiot! Do I look like a little green man to you!? With black eyes and squeaks 'we come in peace'. Not like that at all!" Jarek shouted humorously as he can almost feeling like this isn't exactly all serious but ducking the hammer swing all the same. Ren grabs Nora and sits her back down to allow Jarek to explain. He was a tad shaken at what had happened but he'd seen worse in his life.

"Well, by 'not of this world' I meant...a parallel dimension...A world that cannot be crossed easily... A world similar to this world 'Remnant'. We have people just like this one. But we have no Grimm or Dust."

"Fascinating." Pyrrha said as Jaune just looked confused.

"But that's a story for another day. But all I could say is that I'm human, just like you. But, if I told you more, you think I'm a little delusional or insane. It all depends on whether or not you want to believe it. Besides, I rather not talk to new people about my story...too quickly that is..." Jarek drifted off for a good long minute or two. He then noticed another student, female, who was directly facing opposite of his direction just minding her own business. But there was something blindingly obviously unusual about the girl...she had some kind of rabbit ears attached directly on top of her head and nobody is giving it a second thought about the girl. This means that a girl with a kind of a physical feature of that nature must be very common, or at least enough that it's not considered weird. If that's the case, then he needs to be brought up to speed.

Jarek motioned his hands above his head in a similar fashion with the strange ears.

"Ummm...bunny ears?"

It was then Weiss and Yang looked at each other with a silent, hidden confused look, a sort of squinting at each other in a harsh amazement then looked at the Pole. Ruby and the rest of the group had equally confused thoughts.

"You don't have Faunus in your world?" Ruby asked. The very word 'Faunus' confused Jarek for a second as the term sounds similar to the term 'fauna' the term is only used in the context of science and he only knew that because his school had taught the Latin term. And it was probably the one of the only things that Jarek remembered from that subject in school. It's a high chance that the two must be related.

"What's a Faunus?" The curious partisan asked. It was then when the black-bowed Blake gave an explanation.

"Faunus are a type of humanoid that inhabits Remnant, this world. There are distinct from humans in that they have some kind of physical animal features and an increased sense of smell in some cases and all of them have night vision. However, because of this, they suffer ridicule and prejudice and often times persecution by humans. The White Fang, the group of people you killed, are a group of Faunus who are trying to wipe out humanity by violent means. They often times have killed innocents to achieve their goals. They started out as a group trying to get equal rights for Faunus, but they lost their legitimacy the moment they turned to violence to further their agenda." Blake explained grunting reminding herself of why she was once a member of that hateful organization.

Blake mentally readied herself to see her new classmate about to go into a rage or make some kind of racist remark about her species, thankfully she didn't mention that she's a faunus as well. That bow of hers does wonders. But it never came as Jarek simply shrugged himself and mentioned.

"Alright." Jarek coolly remarked as if it were not a big deal. These Faunus were the least of his concern, just another thing to add up to coming to terms with his new and abrupt life in this world called Remnant.

This action somewhat stunned Weiss who obviously had a strong opinion about Faunus and the White Fang especially, though the fact that Blake's a Faunus cooled down her prejudice quite a bit. Jarek quickly notice something about that. It reminded him of how the Jews were treated back in his world. They suffered prejudice and humiliation over the centuries, many people in his country are not completely blameless for being anti-Semitic. As for Jarek, he never had any animosity towards Jews and viewed them as merely fellow Poles and human beings. Back at the battalion, nobody cared if you were Jewish or not, they just cared if you want to kill Nazis.

"Wait, so you're telling me that there's no Faunus where you come from?" Weiss asked in amazement. Almost to an extent that she cannot believe it.

"Nope, nothing of that sort. From where I come from, there's no Faunus to speak of, just plain old boring humans and we are dominant species of our world. Though, it seems that humankind can make their own prejudices amongst themselves…"

"And what do you exactly mean by that Jarek?" Pyrrha asked now even more curious than before.

"By that, we have our own version of Faunus in the sense of hate and anger. We call them Jews and biologically they are no less human than you and me...or all of us here. However, they've suffered persecutions just because they ran the banks and businesses and that's why they hate 'em...for hundreds of years..."

Jarek intentionally omitted out everything else in the story. He didn't want to tell them anything about the exterminations and concentration camps. They did not need to know about that, at least not yet, hopefully, never at all. He decided to try to change the subject.

"Well...that's enough storytelling for one day. I want to learn more about this world…" For the rest of the hour Jarek and the rest of the group of nine talked about all sorts of various topics, ranging from Grimm to Dust to Weaponry, it was clear to Jarek from the beginning that Ruby has an obsession with weapons in general. He made a mental note to make sure that she doesn't get her hands on his weapons too much. But it wouldn't hurt either for her to look at them either.

Once that was over, team RWBY took Jarek on a tour through the nearby city of Vale, as Ruby and the rest of the team referred to it as 'Kingdom of Vale'. Which Jarek thought was strange that cities were kingdoms but remembered some of his medieval history that there were many city states throughout Europe in the early middle ages. So it must be a similar political situation.

When he toured the street of Vale, it looked like to him as a more advanced and high tech and above all peaceful version of Warsaw, Poland's capital at least in vague terms of architecture. And of course that's where the end of similarities of the two cities. Despite all of that, Jarek really liked what he saw, he found the biggest thing he needed since his notorious thirteenth birthday...Peace...something rationed and in short supply back home. Everyone here is carefree and at peace without fear of war and despair and loss on a grand scale. If he was to forge his new life as a so called huntsman, this will definitely be the place to do it.

The last stop of the day was a new clothing store called 'NEW VALE ATTIRE EMPORIUM' that was popular around town and provided appeal for everyone. They provided any type of clothing from any type of person ranging from military gear to wedding dresses which was somewhat interesting considering that was never heard of back home.

"Well, this is the last stop of the day." Ruby remarked with a hint of shallow sadness, but happy at the same time that they had a day off of classes. Any day away from Peter Port's classroom was always a blessing.

"So this is a new clothing store that opened in Vale recently. Professor Ozpin instructed me to hand you some Lien. It's the currency of Remnant." She handed Jarek a bunch of Lien cards to Jarek. He examined them more closely unlike with the brush with the White Fang, he was relieved and a little bit surprised that the currency had Arabic numerals, or something that seemed to mean the same thing. _Thank God,_ he thought. "You're going to buy some new clothes...so...yeah...it's going to be that awesome." She murmured as the newly expanded team RWBY entered the store.

The whole team, including Jarek were awed at the collection. The claim of the new store seemed indeed true. Ozpin ordered Team RWBY to keep track of the new student so he doesn't accidentally get lost or anything like that.

'Well, better get to work.' He whispered to himself in Polish as he went about the store. His tactic was always to get the first thing that looks good to him, by that, it means that it has to be useful, practical, and will camouflage him in a forest environment and then move on in a very quick and efficient manner. This was a habit he acquired over the years as a partisan. Which was understandable, given the fact that he's only been in Remnant for exactly seventy two hours and is yet to adopt the customs of this new world. But to Team RWBY, they just couldn't understand their vagabond's hurry, as he scanned through the clothing store and started to acquire a variety of clothing that did not share any particular flashy color theme.

First, he found a set of black and brown boots that appeared to be made out of some futuristic material. Some kind of leather perhaps, certainly some of it was artificially made, but it was the design that was made interesting. The souls were elaborate with cleats. Plenty of things for his feet to grip on. It's always good to have a second pair even though the ones he has works fine and had not even fallen victim to the Molotov. Next, he found a pair of green T-Shirts and a brand new brown jacket that had padding at the elbows, definitely useful. Halfway through his selection a girl roughly his age approached him from the other side of the store. She wore a black beret and a pair of sunglasses that seem to reflect right into one's soul.

"You're wearing a Beacon Academy uniform, though I haven't seen you before." She said with a confident tone with a hint of kindness.

"Ah...yes...Jarek Gniewek. I'm new student." He said in the thick but easily understandable English. "Recently enrolled." The girl reached up and tilted down her sunglasses, revealing chocolate brown eyes that scanned Jarek up and down before pushing her glasses back up. "The name's Coco, interesting accent," she said, extending her hand which Jarek took, surprised at the strength of her grip and shook. "Thank you. I am…..not from around here." He said, skirting around the truth.

"Uh huh. I came over because I noticed you are going around and grabbing items like you're preparing for the apocalypse." Coco said, one eyebrow cocking above her sunglasses rim. Jarek looks down to the rather sizeable pile of clothes he had collected. "Well, I am used to grabbing what I can, not often I get chance at new stuff."

"I see that," Coco remarked looking at all of the type of clothing this new student has acquired. They had a rather neutral color themed, greens and browns mostly. All of which is practical and very durable, at the very same time, however, it had some sense of style and cohesion with the fashion choices. Not the kind of type that she would see in a clothing magazine, but had some hidden beauty within the ugliness. Whoever this new student is, he knows what to get. Not bad...not bad at all.

"Actually, it seems you got something going for you, Jarek. You certainly know what to get. I've never seen anyone before who gets a color choice such as your's. Most of the people I've seen like to use reds, blues, yellows, anything that's bright. But that's not a bad way to go."

"Um...Thanks…" Jarek said, not knowing what else what to say.

"If you need some help with your clothes, I'm usually here every weekend. I can help you." It was at that moment she disappeared as soon as she came in.

Eventually, the rest of Team RWBY met up with Jarek and after trying all of his new clothes, which all fit by pure coincidence, he checked out of the store, looking like a future incarnation of himself.

'This feels so badass! I can take on anyone with this!' Jarek exclaimed happily in Polish and couldn't hold back his excitement, much to the girl's confusion.

"Uh Jarek? English please." Yang said with a confused look.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Just too overly excited. It's been months since I got new set of clothes!"

"Well then I say it was about time you got a fresh set of fun! Eh?" Yang said with a grin. The rest of Team RWBY became suddenly annoyed at Yang's notorious puns. They were fine at first, but she likes to use them way too frequently for them to be of any comedic value. Even Jarek understood the concept of puns.

Later that day, Team RWBY, including Jarek, made it back to Beacon where he was to meet some of his new teachers. It was the end of the school day, so that gave the girls the perfect opportunity to get one of their most hated teachers out of the way: Professor Port.

"Well hello young man! What is your name?" A relatively short, round, mustachioed man said in a booming voice to Jarek

"Jarek Gniewek," He introduced himself in a very quiet and unassuming voice by comparison.

"A fine name! Tell me Mr. Gniewek, have you ever heard the tale of how I saved a town from being overrun by a pack of Beowolves?"

"Umm…. Been only here for three days so no-"

"Well then, allow me to enlighten you!" Port said, cutting him off.

"You see, it started many years ago when I was a young Huntsman…" He started, Jarek quickly tuning him out, realizing this was completely irrelevant to anything. It went on for another half hour before he finally finished and the team decided to call it quits for the day.

It was then when the rest of the team was getting ready for bed across the other side of the hallway, Jarek started to collect and analyze his resources, perhaps it's just a way to keep his sanity. His new outfit looks a lot better than his old one. Besides, it had that brand new smell too. You don't see that in Europe these days. His boots and hats were obviously intact, but he decided his old ones would be his backup and secondary boots. His new revamped guns were also good. That Argent guy had made several magazines and clips and plenty of ammunition for all of them, however, his expendables are lacking.

Of the items brought on the raid, only two Molotov cocktails, three hand grenades and one smoke bomb was left. All of these were handmade and cannot be replaced. He made them himself, in his underground hideout, which had functioned as his home and escape. He had a personal weapons factory where he had manufactured all of these by hand. Now, since he no longer has those resources anymore, he'll have to make do with what he has now. With the advanced technology this world possesses, it's easy to assume that they have these types of weapons, or perhaps some equivalent to these or at the very minimum the means to make them. And that's a lot of what ifs.

This was also the time for everything that has happened to him to soak in, and the fact that his partisan career is over was very daunting. He can no longer fight to rid the Nazi monsters from his precious homeland. It had kind of punched him in the stomach at the idea thereof. But it seems that a new one has quickly started up for him and his skills will come very handy indeed. At the same time though, he feels like a mercenary, a gun for hire, a person who has no personal investment in fighting the Grimm and he just happened to land in the wrong place at the wrong time and BOOM here he is.

There's nothing he could do about it, now, but like he did as a partisan fighting the Germans, he will give this hunter business his all, he's going to see through this road to the end whatever that means.

Among other things he purchased, he purchased a light brown duster; an outer coat that was common in those beloved cowboy films. It a sort of a spur of a moment kind of thing and he intended to make some use for it, whether that be practical or cosmetic remains to be seen. It won't hurt though to decorate it down the road. But one of his favorite things he had bought for himself were two pairs of green wool strips known as 'Winding Putties' to the British. He would wrap these around his ankle over his boots and upward. This will keep the moisture out of his feet and would decrease chances of getting trench foot. Besides, he doubts that anyone had ever came up with an idea like that. Though in this strange new world, anything was possible.

He also sewed his intact AK armband onto his school uniform, it was soon apparent that despite school uniforms being standard in design, students were free to modify them as they wish, within reason.

With all of that to think about, Jarek took a quick shower and wore his new clothes to bed. Not thinking it was strange or out of the ordinary. Besides, he had bigger problems to worry about.

 _Five Years Ago...November 1939,_

 _He ran and he ran, as fast as he could, as deep into the forest and as far away from the Nazis as possible. Do not stop, Do not stop. The thirteen year old Jarek could only think of in his mind. Survive...Just survive. But finally, after running all last night and all morning, his young, but spent body, just gave way and he managed to find a place to rest in a soft ditch of pine needles. He went to sleep quite easily, out of it before he even slowed his breathing._

 _When he finally woke up, it was late sunset. It kind of felt like that this was surreal. That everything that had happened in the last day or two never happened. That he had never been abducted, or escape or murdered that young German soldier. He was probably only a few years older than he was. No longer being able to hold all the grief in...Jarek sat against a tree and then burst into tears, letting out all of the grief he had held back. All of those things that have happened wouldn't have been so bad if his mother wasn't killed and then...well…_

 _But just as potent and intense, was his anger and absolute hatred toward the Germans and the Nazis, especially the SS. The alleged embodiment of the 'Master Race' or Aryan supermen. They seemed to Jarek little more than huns, barbarians...actually worse...monsters. Just like the story_

 _No...that wasn't murder...it was self-defense Jarek assured himself. Murder is where you kill someone in cold blood, not when you have to. Nonetheless, he cannot help himself crying for what he had done. Whether or not it was justified was beyond relevance. He took someone's life and the Nazis, knowing what his father told him, knows that the Nazis will show no mercy and will take vengeance on one another. All he could do was run and hide, nothing else. But was there any place to run or hide to? When the Hitlerites have taken over the whole country? This is becoming hopeless._

 _As he was deep in his thoughts...hundreds of feet were thumping on the soft pine needle grass side by side shouts and screams and even a gunshot...pistol. He turned around and saw a whole column of people marching in clumped file lines with a few Nazi guards marching all of them into the forest. Jarek immediately hid underneath some nearby undergrowth and was never detected by the Nazis in gray._

 _Jarek followed them but made sure he kept a safe distance from them as not to be detected and risk his safety. He followed them to a recently dug ditch or trench of some kind. This was becoming sinister. The people all lined up in a single row with soldiers in grey stood behind them pointing their rifles at them. In an instant he confirmed in his mind what he already suspected. This was a execution of people, for whatever reason they were all going to die. But for what reason did they have to be killed? What sense did that make? It made absolutely none. The Nazis were true monsters in every regard. They don't value life and only live to consume it. He thought about one time when his father mentioned that they were no better than something that started with a 'G' followed by a 'RA' sound. But that was all that he could make out of it at the time._

 _However, in the meantime they have to be stopped. Before the Nazis took aim at their prisoners, Jarek took aim at the one that looked like the officer of the group. He made sure that he had a clear shot at him. He waited for the perfect moment to strike. It was perhaps possible that the officer will see common sense on the eleventh hour and not carry out the execution. But that will prove unlikely. Once all of the people were lined up the commander yelled out in German: "You have all be proven guilty of the cowardly murderer of Pvt. Franz Kaufman. Therefore you have all been sentenced to death. The execution is to be carried out immediately."_

' _Dupa!' Jarek thought to himself. I'm responsible for all of this. It's my fault that they're going to die. But I must do what I can to prevent it. Therefore, I must commit murder again, to save many other lives. Jarek took aim the officer who at this point he ordered his soldiers to ready their weapons and aim at their first batch of prisoners. He made sure that his crosshairs on the scope of his Dad's rifle aimed directly for the head and he gently squeezed the trigger. The mauser cracked to life and the officer's head exploded and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. A silence fell upon the forest. The execution squad initially were stunned and confused at the premature gunshot that had occurred. It was quickly followed by a second shot and the first executioner fell. It was then the Nazis figured out what was going on and immediately took cover behind their victims to be used as human shields. Whereas the rest of the victims screamed, fled and scattered._

 _Jarek moved positions stealthily through the trees and made very precise shots at the executioners who were trying to figure out what was going on. By the time the executioners figured out where the shots were coming from, it was too late they were all dead. Shot with a single shot to the head and all of the would be victims disappeared into the void that is the forest._

 _The thirteen year old Jarek walked to the scene of carnage and looked into the empty ditch where corpses would have been if it weren't for his doing. He then observed the uniforms of the men he had killed. Their collars showed a death's head emblem. The same one that Jarek saw on the uniforms on the men that had abducted him. He then looked at the officer's face, hoping that it was the same one who had ordered the murder of his beloved mother. It was not. Just some random man that he'd never seen before._

 _He started to methodically search the pockets and weapons of all of the would-be execution squad and removed their dog tags, so they could not be identified. Most importantly he was searching for food and water. But as he was doing so, something tapped on his shoulder from behind. Jarek turned around and aimed his Father's rifle. But he quickly lowered his weapon when he saw a man wearing a fedora and a wool coat, stained with blood. He was somewhat perplexed at what he was seeing; a teenager that stopped this massacre._

" _How old are you, young man?" He asked somberly._

" _Just thirteen…" Jarek answered somberly. The man had almost no reaction at the answer. His eyes were purple with fatigue and despair. Jarek noticed the yellow star on his coat that said 'JUDE' all in bold letters._

" _You saved me and my family...can you help us?" Jarek thought about that for a moment as the rest of his family slowly converged, around twenty or so family members, all sorts of ages, ranging from infants to old men. Many of his friends despised and hated Jews and denounced them as the scum of the earth that ruled the banks and finances. But his dad instilled in him a duty to help innocents in need regardless of who they are._

" _Sure...but I have nowhere to take you."_

" _You can take us to the Bug River. We may be able to get to the Russians."_

" _Don't communists hate you as much as the Nazis do?"_

" _Well if we stay here, were good as dead." The man replied._

" _Do you know how to shoot?"_


	7. First Mission

**Chapter 7: First Mission**

 _Remnant, Vale, Beacon Academy_

Professor Ozpin sat at his desk as usual while slipping his coffee from his favorite mug in is clocked themed office that consisted of his school's top floor. He was watching the footage from the video cameras that Glynda was able to salvage of that strange battle between the young man who introduced himself as 'Jarek Gniewek' and the strange sequences of events that marked his...rather...unusual arrival. At this point he was repeatedly watching again and again the battle between him and the White Fang. As well as how he was able to kill the Ursa without the use of Aura let alone Dust. But he payed more attention to his initiation where he was able to accomplish it without any additional support or help from any kind from fellow team members. This makes this strange situation all the more...interesting must be the word.

It has been little over a week since this these strange events unfolded and the school had, at least in appearance, reverted back to its normal routine. As close as possible under the given circumstances.

It was at that moment that Glynda arrived at his office unannounced.

"So how is Mr. Gniewek doing?" Ozpin asked his assistant.

"Actually, that is the very reason I came to talk to you, Professor." She replied in her usual and serious minded tone.

"Oh… is that so?" He asked, already knowing the answer. Glynda paused for a few moments then proceeded to tell what she was going to say.

"Yes...well you see. Mr. Gniewek is actually doing reasonably well...it would be average for a student at least right now but given the circumstances he's doing...good. Not exemplary in anyway, but he's certainly not failing and seems to be enthusiastic about being a huntsman."

"I see." Ozpin noted, pondering on the idea of having a new student right smack in the middle of the semester as he thought to himself on Mr. Gniewek's skill as a warrior.

"Professor, do you honestly believe Mr. Gniewek's story? I find it outright impossible to believe." Glynda mentioned to Ozpin. "Surely there has to be a logical explanation to all of this."

"I'm afraid that the only explanation to this was the one that Mr. Gniewek has described. I researched every database with all of the names that he'd mentioned, and not one result. Besides, wherever he may have come from, it doesn't really matter. What really matters is that he has the skills to be a huntsmen. Besides, attending this academy will help him integrate him into Remnant."

Ever since Ozpin told Glynda what Jarek told him, she had remained skeptical of Jarek's story as it was all too incredible to believe. Ozpin can't really blame her for that, he understands where she's coming from. The flash was the first thing that was strange. It could have been seen from far away as Vale to the source. A flash like that would have not been physically possible unless there were some mysterious powers in play. But the reasons are unknown and like before this doesn't really matter.

Glynda decided to change subjects.

"Do you think it was wise to send him on a mission just a week after starting to attend Beacon?" She asked Ozpin with the usual occasional wonder what goes on inside of his head.

"I have every assurance that Mr. Gniewek will be safe and sound in the hands of Team RWBY. This will be a very educational trip for him."

Meanwhile around this same time, Team RWBY plus Jarek Gniewek, the partisan turned Huntsmen-in-training, are on their way to their first mission as a team. Their mission is simple but not necessarily that easy. It was to sweep up a cave full of Nevermores using whatever means that was deemed necessary.

They made a brief rest just outside the cave entrance. It was roughly one hundred and fifty yards tall and it amazed Jarek as he had never seen anything like it before in his life.

"My God...that's the biggest cave I've ever seen in my whole life!" Jarek commented out loud before turning his attention to other matters. "So the basic mission is to go in and kill the 'Nevermores' which are basically big freaking birds. I'm right, am I not?"

"That's right, Jarek." His new comrade, Blake Belladonna confirmed. "As you have learned, Nevermores are one of the biggest Grimm species and their favorite tactic is to swoop down and bash anything in sight. They're also quite durable. During our initiation, one of them attacked us and it was certainly a fight."

"Yeah, and it was super awesome too!" Yang said in excitement. Team RWBY had told Jarek about how ferocious and fierce and terrifying a Nevermore is. Which meant if one was a headache, why go right into a place full of them? A dozen? A hundred? Or even a thousand? He'll honestly never know.

"Well, come to look at this cave entrance. Wouldn't be more efficient if we just blow up the entrance with explosives and block the only method to get in and out of the cave? The Nevermores would simply be neutralized and no longer a threat to humanity."

The rest of Team RWBY looked at each other with various expressions. Yang apparently thought it was a brilliant idea and should be implemented, but Jarek sensed she was more thrilled at the idea of explosions that anything else. He couldn't tell how Ruby and Weiss felt. But Blake certainly expressed herself quite clearly.

"Well...isn't that a little excessive?" She wondered to herself clearly thinking that it wasn't a good plan.

"Actually, No. It's actually not quite excessive. In fact it would be quite the opposite. I remember of a quote from a book in my world that says you should always deter from unnecessary fighting. How would it serve if we waste valuable Dust, Ammo, and Energy on Grimm that might not even be able to kill that easily unless you pull off a daredevil stunt that might not even kill them? While we can neutralize them with an explosive and let time and starvation do its work. The goal of a Huntsman is to render the Grimm an ineffective force that could challenge humanity's existence, not necessarily a high kill count." Weiss was stunned at the Partisan's expression. She wondered if he was really dedicated to being a Huntsman but realized he wouldn't be attending this school if he wasn't.

"Even if you could do that. The Nevermores aren't that stupid. They'll rip you to shreds if you get anywhere near that cave without any proper protection, Grimm can sense emotions, any negative emotion, no matter how well controlled is something Grimm pick up on."

"Well there goes one idea out the window." Jarek remarked. "So we just go in guns blazing and hope for the best…" The rest of the team detected a small hint of sarcasm in him.

"I like that idea!" He squealed happily. "It's been awhile since I had the odds stacked against me."

"You mean... _us_ " Weiss corrected.

"Oh yeah that's right. I forgot that English word."

And with that, Team RWBY+G planned out how they were going to assault the cave. They were to, at least what Jarek thought, was just simply go in and kill the Grimm. This without any seam of a military strategy. Is this what it's like for all Huntsmen and Huntresses? After they were finished planning out. They set out into the cave and right into the hornet's nest.

It didn't take that long for them to encounter their first Nevermore. It was roughly only a third of the size that Jarek expected. Then he quickly remembered that these Nevermores were adolescents and did not posed as much of the threat as a full blown adult one. This fact caused relief to flow through Jarek's mind and body.

A few bursts from his Blyskawica plus fire from team RWBY was apparently enough to dispatch the young Nevermore. Then team RWBY+G plowed their way through Nevermore after Nevermore, allowing nothing to stop them. It was an absolute kill fest of Grimm. Eventually, team RWBY+G were able to plow through the main cave. At this point Jarek was nearly out of ammo for his Blyskawica and it gave him no choice but to switch to GRUNWALD. As his rifle variant of his primary weapon was ill suited to close quarter engagements. Finally they found themselves in a large cavern, and for the moment it seemed the fight had paused. Regrouping in the center they decided to talk strategy.

"Okay team, if the map we got is right, this main cave has five branching chambers, each with its own nest." Ruby said as she laid said map out and pointed to each chamber.

"So, one for each?" Jarek asked with a small grin on his face at the prospect. At this point, Jarek was really beginning to enjoy himself and this Grimm business.

Blake cleared her throat before speaking. "Seems airtight to me, who is taking which chamber?"

"I take one on far left." Jarek said and made clear which one he wanted by pointing to it. At this point the rest of the Team, Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang then made their decision on which cave to go through and it was settled and as soon as they were ready, they set out on the second phase of the Grimm extermination.

When Jarek made his first steps into his respective branch of the cave, he was surprised to see that there wasn't any Grimm in the immediate vicinity. And it was dark too, so Jarek got one of his new 'Glow sticks' that he purchased from a store in Vale over the weekend, and crumpled it all up and it emitted a glowing green light. What presented him in the branch was the scene of unimaginable horror and grief. Dozens of bodies littered the nest cave. It was soon clear that a massive battle took place here. He wasn't sure what a bunch of humans were doing here out in this cave or how they got stuck in here. But when he went up one of the mangled and bloodied bodies. He soon discovered, much to his horror, a white and red armband with the Kotwica plus two scythes skull and crossbones style, on top of a stained and torn Khaki uniform: The Zniwiarz Scout Assault Group: His old comrades.

Jarek felt numb as he sank to his knees, looking around him in horror. Somehow and someway, his assault group, or what was left of it, ended up in this cave. He didn't know how they got there, but the explosion certainly had something to do with it. But that didn't matter. All of his friends were now dead, he couldn't even recognize them. And there was little point to it anyhow.

'Is anyone alive in here?' Jarek shouted in Polish.

This time without the fear of the rest of his new team listening in on this. He got no reply. A few minutes later, he found his commanding officer: General Kaltstein. Lying on the wall of the cool dark cave. His bloodied hand still clenched around his signature cavalry saber.

Jarek staggered over on grief-weakened knees as he bent down and brushed his hand over General Kaltstein's eyes, closing them before he picked up the saber and sheath and the cap from his head. His knees as well as the rest of his body suddenly became strengthened with anger and rage. He was determined not to die like his brothers and sisters before him. He was going to avenge them, one way or another. He was not going to stop until every god-damn Grimm in this cave is dead.

Jarek clenched his hand around the hilt of the saber, turning towards the sound of Grimm further in the cave.

Raising the saber, he uttered a wordless cry and charged in, tears of sorrow and rage blurring his vision. As he confronted the first Grimm he slashed downward at it, severing the head from its neck. As the blood fountained he felt some power deep within him welling up and throwing his head back a soundless yell escaped from him as it burst forth in an flare of light. Jarek looked at himself in wonder as around him the light, colored gold and red like his aura began to take form. Around his legs formed armored greaves, scaled like a dragon and segmented at the knees before joining a pair of similar armored boots. On his arms formed vambraces of the same colors, finished on his hands with light chainmail gloves. Around his chest and back formed a breastplate with a Kotwica with three lightning bolts through it in the center of the chest. From his back sprouted a pair of metal beams, going up and over his head, ending with a slight curve at the top. Up the back of these beams sprouted feathers of a metallic material, shooting up the beams until reaching the top and stopping. Finally, to complete his armor, a helmet formed around his head, closed in the back and slightly domed, the front was open before a covering piece that left his eyes and portions of his face uncovered formed, similar in design to a Grimm mask but also like the Hussars of old.

Jarek dropped to the ground, having been suspended midair by the release of his aura. Standing, he looked towards the remaining Grimm, amongst which the alpha male and his mate were included. Once again raising the saber, he charged forward, releasing a yell to match that of a thousand charging Hussars. It was an inhuman roar, almost demonic. It was so powerful that one could think that it could put the fear of God into these demons of darkness.

Jarek entered a battle trance, acting out of some supernatural instinct, perhaps guided in some way by the spirits of the long dead Hussars whose armor he now bore. Jarek had no measure of how long he had been fighting, but he seemed to wake up when one of his slashes met nothing but air. Looking around, he saw nothing living, nothing but a field of fading Grimm corpses, most of them in various stages of dismemberment. He looked down at the saber, now thoroughly covered in Grimm matter. He looked at his armor which slowly dissolved into him as the rest of Team RWBY showed up.

"What happened in there, Jarek?" Weiss asked clearly concerned about the partisan, the rest of the team was wondering the same thing. Jarek stayed silent as he brushed past them, walking out of the cave system into the sunlight before sitting down on a rock as he began to clean the saber.

"I'm not entirely sure myself." The partisan began to explain. "But what happened...was...when I went into the cave...I saw….I've seen…"

"Well what?" Yang asked having been unusually quiet until.

"My battalion." Jarek said. "My group from the world I came from also came here. They were in that cave. They appeared in the same way onto this world. But they weren't so lucky. I think when they were trapped in the cave. They fought to the bitter end against an enemy they never knew and were slaughtered. They were in there decomposing as long as I have been here so, little under two weeks perhaps. I was deeply shocked, but I found my commanding officer's saber and I grabbed it. Then somehow...someway… something awoken within me. Some golden and red armor materials came out of me is the best way to put it, forming around me in the style of the Winged Hussars, the ancient and elite warriors of my home." Jarek said as he paused and took a drink from his canteen. "Last thing I remember before descending into some kind of haze was charging towards the Grimm, then I woke up when they were all dead." He finished as he poured some water over the blade.

"I think Jarek, from what you described, you just unlocked your semblance." Weiss said, at which the rest of the team nodded, having come to that conclusion as well.

"Well, if that was the case then that was pretty awesome." Jarek mentioned with a certain degree of emotional detachment to it.

Weiss, surprisingly stepped forward and set a hand on Jarek's shoulder. "Jarek are you okay? We understand if you are really upset because of all this." She said softly.

"Sure I am." Jarek explained. "But I've seen so much death and destruction in the last five years. That it doesn't really affect me anymore. So many friends, so many comrades have died fighting Nazis that I lost count long ago. I assumed that they were killed in the explosion. I'm just shocked that they died in the way they did. But I'm not prepared to see four more go like that without me something to say about that." In the last line, he was obviously referring to Team RWBY.

They all smiled at that, knowing who he meant. "Same goes for all of us Jarek." Ruby said, smiling around at them all. Jarek smiled back in a sense of appreciation. His simile is not of cockiness, but appreciation. More about the fact that he earned the trust of his new comrades. But more importantly, he's still alive. And he was going to live for those who have fallen.

"Yeah. Now we better get back to Beacon before anyone misses us."

 _Five Years Ago...November 1939_

 _Jarek returned to his village a few weeks later as a man in a child's body. He was able to get all of the Jews on the other side of the Bug with reasonable success. All it really took was some skullduggery after he forced a local farmer to commandeer his boat and slowly cross every single Jew without being detected by the new Soviet border guards. It was extremely risky, but it was all worth it in the end. It risked everyone's life including his own. He was honestly amazed on how he was able to do it. But with his good deed done, he returned to his local village in one of the few forests of the motherland._

 _He returned to see everything in ruins. Most of the houses were burnt to ashes, and looted for all of their goods and valuables. The Nazi bastards are locusts, consuming everything until there's nothing left. Corpses littered the ground. Some burnt others shot out of hand in a rather sloppily way. Even Wiktor's mother, the kindest old lady in the village was not safe from the Nazi plague. She had been seriously used, her old body couldn't handle the stress that younger women could face, mercifully dead before the other women in the village._

' _What kind of people would do such things!?' Jarek shrieked as he threw the captured Kar98 to the ground so hard he swore that he broke something. Only monsters could do such things he realized while he wailed in mental agony and rage that could only come from when everything of one's being and life had been stripped to the bone._

' _Hey, Jarek.' A voice rang out. Jarek did not hesitate to turn around and aimed his father's hunting rifle at the direction of the voice. A rush of relief flowed through Jarek's veins when he realized that it came from Dawid: one of his closest friends. The latter panicked for a second before Jarek lowered his weapon._

' _Thank God it's you, Dawid. Are you truly still here?' He asked in disbelief._

' _Yes it's truly me.' His old friend responded solemnly._

' _Do you know what happened to Wiktor's grandmother?' All Jarek got for a response was the slightest of nods. Which Jarek gave himself no choice but to accept it._

' _Where's everyone else? I mean Wiktor and the gang?'_

' _They're all hiding in the forest. We should go find them.'_

' _Yes. And we'll kill those who did this to us and more.' Jarek solemnly promised._


	8. What's in the Garden?

**Chapter 8: What's in the Garden?**

It was two days after the events of the Nevermore cave mission, which was Jarek's first ever mission that was sanctioned by Beacon Academy. It seemed to everyone that Jarek wanted to work harder at being a Huntsman. Nobody, except team RWBY knew the reason why. Ozpin would find out eventually why that was, nothing stayed hidden to him for long. Just not yet. At the same time, though, Jarek had made a little more effort into talking to people outside of Team RWBY, socializing with them and such. It took a bit of courage on Jarek's part to do such a thing as it was out of his comfort zone but it was ultimately worth it.

But soon his past was going to catch up to the former partisan. But this time, it was going to be a more positive experience. After classes were opened for the day, Jarek and Ruby decided to walk through the gardens so they could talk about weapons some more. It was clear to Ruby that her new teammate enjoyed weaponry in a similar way she did, albeit with less obsession.

"No, Ruby. My pistol is...was...not exotic. Back at home, the Soviet Union made hundreds of thousands of these things…"

"So?! It's like nothing from here so that makes it exotic!" Ruby defended, a glint of madness in her eye.

"All that I'm saying, Ruby, is that the very concept of exotic can be a bit of a subjective term. It all depends on a location of where a weapon is located. Whether it be back home or here in Remnant. It could be unique in one place, in another place it could be generic as hell in another. But my submachine gun, my Blyskawica, now that you can call exotic. Back home, our underground factories would manufacture these for the AK. Most of the people making them didn't know a thing about weapons. Though roughly a couple hundred were made. Mine for instance, was a prototype made by some egghead from Warsaw. The grooves on the barrel were made so I can attach a suppressor if need be."

Ruby was listening to Jarek with rapt attention and Jarek could practically see her making notes in her mind. "That…..Is…...AWESOME!" Ruby gushed. But when the two were deep in conversation. The ground suddenly shook like a person suffering from a seizure. Everyone was suddenly in disarray and were scrambling for cover. It wasn't a huge earthquake in the scheme of things. But it certainly surprised everyone, it seemed.

After the shaking stopped, Jarek turned to check if Ruby was okay, and found himself a bit confused.

"Uhh, Ruby? Did you get taller?" Jarek asks, a perfectly reasonable question, seeing as Ruby was now eye level with him. Ruby looked down and noticed she was on a tree stump, much to her strange curiosity.

"Oh yeah. Hang on." She said as she stepped down from the stump. "What on Remnant happened?" she asked herself out loud.

"I think it was an earthquake of some sort." Jarek observed. "Must be the earthquake pushed it up through the ground."

"But that's strange. We don't have earthquakes anywhere near Vale, yet alone Beacon." It was at this moment, Jarek took a close observation of the tree stump and somehow he thought it was strangely...familiar. Going on a hunch, Jarek took a closer look and noticed there was a rusty metal tube inside of it going deeper into the ground.

"Ruby, I think I know this stump." Jarek said, tapping it with his boot. "And if I'm right…" He said, stomping the ground he was standing on, which produced an echoing thump, followed by a creaking noise, and then a crash as the ground beneath Jarek gave way.

The impact wasn't huge. It was perhaps a six foot drop at the most, in the end he landed on his butt, enveloped by darkness.

"Jarek...are you okay." His concerned friend asked.

"I'm fine, Ruby...I just need to find my way back up..." He then got out one of his glow sticks from his bread bag as he would never go anywhere without it, a kind of a mental handicap if he thought about it. When he activated the glow stick, he was amazed at what he saw.

'Welcome Home…' He muttered to himself in Polish. What he stumbled upon was his old dug out from Poland. Everything was in place. This dug-out was actually made from an old concrete bunker left over from the Polish-Soviet War. It was roughly twenty by thirty feet. Contained a bed, a work bench, and a bunch of other stuff one would find anywhere in their home. But most importantly, this was where Jarek would store all of his personal weapons, gear, and A LOT of war loot. Maps, uniforms for disguises, a whole array of German, Polish, and Russian war medals. On top of that, what appeared to be a desk with a chair. The desk had on top of it a whole array of maps. The largest one was located on the wall, it showed a familiar sight to Jarek: Polska and with dots all over the place.

"Hey, Ruby...I think you should come down here." Jarek called up.

"Okay Jarek," Ruby answered as she began gradually making her way down the hole, not wanting to fall. When she reached the bottom she turned to Jarek. "Okay, what is…...it?" she began before trailing off when she saw where he stored his weapons.

"This...Ruby...is my home…" Jarek explained simply.

"What do you mean...your home?' Ruby asked. More interested in the weapons. "Well, everyone needs a place to stay...a place to call their own. This was my hide away, my place to call home. Back home this was my dugout where I placed all of my stuff that I didn't use on a daily basis. It was hidden beneath the ground so nobody can find it that easily and an old tree stump completed the charade. And somehow this has now came from my world and into Remnant. But the good news is that all of my stuff is now with me...And should be… Grom!" Jarek shouted.

'Grom it's your friend! I came here to give you treat.' Jarek started to say in Polish to something that Ruby didn't know about. The answer was responded to by a strange meow and from the shadows a small black cat came out of nowhere and approached Jarek. He picked it up and the two unlikely friends reunited.

"Ah it's you, Grom! I missed you so much!" Jarek said happily.

"Aww, he's cute!" Ruby said, looking closer at the cat that had suddenly appeared.

"Ruby, I like you to introduce to you, Grom. My pet cat. He's been with me as long as I can remember and he makes sure that the dugout remains rat free!" Ruby smiled and gently pet Grom on the head, at which the cat purrs and licked her fingers.

"So Jarek. The cat is cute and all, but what are we going to do with the weapons…" Ruby asked, getting back to her obsession.

"Well...I haven't thought that far ahead, did I? Well I suppose that we're going to need help getting everything out of here before Ms. Goodwitch finds out about this place."

Jarek then grabbed out his scroll and then went into the contacts section and texted to Weiss, Blake, and Yang. It's amazing this texting technology. The only thing close was telegraphing and that wasn't even mobile. And it fascinated Jarek that everyone had access to such technology. If this is ordinary, than what other even more advanced technology that's considered innovative exists? Jarek could only imagine what that would be.

EVERYONE, PLEASE STOP EVERYTHING AND COME TO THE TREE STUMP IN THE GARDEN. Jarek texted. Which he promptly receive a reply of,

THERE IS NO TREE STUMP IN THE GARDEN.

To which he responded with,

WELL THERE IS NOW.

A few minutes later, the rest of Team RWBY had joined them in the garden, confused at hole in the ground. Jarek shouted from the ground. "Come down here," he called. The three girls shrugged and climbed down the hole. When they reached the bottom they had different reactions. Weiss was surprised, Yang was curious, and Blake, Blake was more interested in the scent of another cat.

"Umm...can you please explain to us what this is, Jarek?" Weiss asked.

"Well...to put it short...this was my home from the world I'm from. It's where I hid and collected all of my war loot over five years. Somehow, it came here to Remnant and so we should get all of this stuff out of here before someone stumbles upon this place and decides to take it or destroy it."

"I call moving the weapons!" Ruby said immediately, at which Yang shook her head.

"I wouldn't recommend it unless you are prepared for parts of your collection to turn up missing." She said, implying Ruby might….."lose" some of the weapons in her enthusiasm. Jarek thought for a minute then looked at his personal Maxim wz. 1910/28 machine gun.

"Then I'll let her carry the machine gun. It's impossible to lose that." He said pointing to a strange piece of machinery that looked like a gun but was on some type of cart.

"I wouldn't be surprised but that looks safe enough." Yang told him, at which Ruby grinned and moved over to the machine gun. Jarek approached the machine gun, he began to take the main gun off of its cart and then gave it to Ruby.

"Make sure this gets to my room, Ruby."

"I'm on it, Jarek." Ruby happily replied as she took the machine gun outside of the dugout and back onto the surface. She was out before Jarek even finished his sentence. He started to wonder whether or not he made the right decision.

"Alright, everyone, let's finish this before Ms. Goodwitch figures out what we're up to." Jarek said. Then everyone continued the process of evacuating everything from the dugout and into Jarek's room.

Weiss was at first disinterested in this whole situation, and was only helping Jarek for the sake of teamwork. But all of that changed in her mind when she noticed a whole heap of books that were clustered together in a rather neat pile. She picked one up in curiosity, and opened up to a random page. But she didn't get far as it was written in a language that she'd never seen before. But at the least she could make out of the letters...most of them that is. She could only assume that it was Jarek's native language, from wherever this 'Polska' is.

"Ah, interested in the book, I see." Jarek said noticing her interest. That kind of startled Weiss as she fumbled to put the book back where she found it.

"No no no, you're fine. If you're wondering what that is, it's something called 'War and Peace'. Best Seller. Though unfortunately that's in my language. But I believe you're in luck. If you dig around. You should be able to find something written in this world's language." Upon hearing this, Weiss resumed looking through the stack of books, eventually catching sight of a title written in a familiar language.

"Here we are, 'War and Peace' by Leonard Tolstoy." She says as she reads the title and author. Jarek nods as he hands a stack of books to Weiss.

"Yes, you can borrow it, but now we need to work on moving all this stuff," he said as he handed several weapons to Yang and Grom to Blake before grabbing several boxes of 8mm Mauser ammo.

It took roughly an hour but team RWBY and Jarek were able to get everything out of the bunker before sundown. It would have taken forever had it had been in his world, but since they're in Remnant and everyone seems to be able to do things that could be considered supernatural as far as physical feats went, it is done rather quickly. But when they had moved everything out, Blake then noticed some kind of mural on the stone side of the bunker that the books were hiding. It seemed to be some kind of tapestry telling the history of some kind. The young Faunus could only assume that it was the history of Jarek's home…'Poland'

"Jarek, did you make this?" She asked.

"Ah yes...I did...a long time ago...during the Winter of '39 just a few months after the invasion. I was bored as hell and I was preparing with my team to launch our first attack against the Hitlerites." He said as he glanced over at what she had indicated.

"Team? What do you mean by that?" Blake asked as they ascended out of the bunker.

"I was the leader of a team, Blake. But it wasn't a huntsmen team, it was a partisan team made out of my best friends before the invasion. We called ourselves 'The Children of the Forest' and we set out to do just one thing...kill the Nazi monsters at any cost. We were all scouts, trained in survival and combat… and we wanted to fight for our freedom...we were so young…"

"How old were you all if you don't mind me asking." Blake said as they walked across the grounds of Beacon. Jarek forced a sigh from his mouth.

"I was thirteen when it all started." Jarek explained plainly. "Thirteen and foolish as with the rest of us. How could a bunch of damn kids face the greatest war machine my world has ever seen?"

"Thirteen? My god, Jarek that's insane!" Blake said, her face a mixture of horror and respect.

"Yeah...that might be insane. But partisans are not bound by age. Hell...I knew of fellow insurgents that were as young as ten in open combat...In a war of freedom, every man, woman and child must fight for their future...or perish…But of course that was only in extreme circumstances. Most of the younger partisans were trained to do low risk activities like graffiti and propaganda distribution, or even scouting Nazi positions. But my group wasn't interested in all of that. We wanted to fight...and fight immediately. And we paid the price for it."

Blake remained silent, mulling over this new information about her newest teammate as they walked back into Beacon on the way to the dorms. By now, Jarek's room was in an absolute disarray. As all of his 'junk' was gathered in one big pile in his room and he soon set work to make this generic academy dorm his home away again...and perhaps his only home now.

By the time he was finished, it was evening and he was just in time for dinner. But before he left, Jarek found his old armband when he was the leader of the Children of the Forest. Which was a simple green armband with a yellow fleur-de-lee along with 'Dzieci Lasu' inscribed on it.

As this was a few years before the AK was even conceived. He opened it up and attached it to his uniform...in honor of those who had fallen…

Leaving his room, he joined team RWBY as they were making their way to the dining hall, engaging in idle chat as they walked. By the time they arrived and got their food, Ruby was continually grilling him about the weapons they had recovered while simultaneously denying she had taken the now missing machine gun. After they had taken their seats, they were joined by JNPR.

"So anyway, there were ten Deathstalkers, in the middle of a volcanic field at night with no moon, and all I had was a simple spork!" Nora said as she regaled them with details of her dream before Ren cut in with what most of them silently referred to as "Nora translation."

"There were three Beowolves, it was in an open grassy field at noon, and she had a Bullhead with rockets and auto cannons," Ren supplied, correcting her exaggerations.

Jarek turned to Ruby as she asked him about the functions of the missing machine gun. "Tell you what Ruby, I believe you didn't take the gun, but if you happen to find the machine gun, I will teach you how to shoot it." He said, at which Ruby looked positively over the moon.

"That reminds me, I think I saw it on the roof," she said, vainly hoping it would be enough to fool them all into believing she didn't take it in the first place. Jarek, knowing full well the deception, decided to go along with it, smiled.

"Well then...better go get it then, eh?" He mentioned with some humor engraved into his words.

Yang then noticed something different about Jarek. "Hey Jarek, did you change your armband?" She asked, pointing her fork at said armband.

"Yes I did." Jarek said openly without shame. "I figured it was time to change it for now. It's an old armband. My first one actually...I wear this for nostalgia sake."

"Well it looks good on you," Yang said as she finished her food and stood to dispose of the trash left over. At that moment, Jarek slipped away to back to his room where he collected one of his Polish Mauser rifles and two boxes of German made ammo he'd stolen and took them directly to Argent's workshop.

As Jarek walked down the stairs leading to Argent's forge, he heard voices talking before he knocked and then walked into the forge where he saw Argent talking with an unfamiliar woman. She was tall, nearly as tall as Argent, her skin was pale but not unhealthily so. Her eyes were a bright emerald green and her hair was a fiery blood red. As Jarek set down the ammo boxes, the pair turned to him. "Hello Argent, hello ma'am," Jarek said, greeting them both.

"Ma'am? Please I'm not that old." The woman said with a small laugh to show she was just joking around. "My name is Sinéad Collins and judging on your accent and attire, you must be the one Argent told me about, Jarek Gniewek." She said, smiling warmly in greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Sinéad." Jarek said in a friendly tone of voice.

Sinéad smiled before turning to Argent. "Well, I need to go talk to Ozpin for my debrief, I really should have talked to him before coming here but that is a moot point now. I'll see you this evening, it's your turn to make dinner," she said before giving Argent a quick kiss before turning and walking out of the forge.

"Who was that, Argent?" Jarek asked, obviously knowing what the answer is or at least a good guess.

"That wasss Sinéad, ssshe isss my teammate in team SAGA and my wife," Argent answered, giving his full attention to Jarek or more precisely, the strange weapons and pair of boxes he had brought in with him.

"Well Argent, I would like to thank you for saving my life back at the initiation. I don't know what the weapon standards are in Remnant. But it was by far superior to anything from my world. And saved my life. So, I would like to thank you by giving you a gift...one good Mauser rifle and two boxes of 8mm Mauser ammo for you to play and tinker around with." He unslung the rifle and then handed it to Argent.

Argent accepted the gifts with care and obvious interest before chuckling, a soft rasping sound as he set them aside. His amusement stemmed from the fact that Argent's weaponry creations were used to gauge the worth of all weapons, he was the weaponsmith in Remnant. "My thanksss, and you are lucky, few people have met the quote-un-quote, 'One-eyed sssnake sssmith' and fewer ssstill actually ussse weaponsss I craft." He told Jarek, revealing just how well-crafted the weapons were.

"Well, Holy Dupa." Jarek remarked his eyes widened with amazement. "Then that makes me very lucky indeed." Moving on, Jarek then handed Argent his recently acquired cavalry saber.

"Anyway, I came here to give you these gifts, but also, I was wondering what you can do with this."

Argent took the sword, unsheathing it and examining the blade before stepping back and taking a few test swings with it. "Interesssting, the desssign ssseemsss to emphasssize the ussse of chopping motionsss from an elevated posssition." Argent said, turning to Jarek for more information about the weapon.

"Well Argent, that is known as a cavalry saber. It's designed to make fast slashes on horseback at high speed. I found it off of an old friend in a cave." Jarek explained a little vaguely but enough for his new friend to go off of. "Now, it's in my possession and it suffered quite a bit, so I was wondering if you can do your magic so it could withstand Grimm-killing usage."

"Hmm, an interesssting ssstory, asss for what I can do, I ssshall take a look," Argent said as he turned and walked over to his forge and set the blade down on his workbench before turning to his shelves and selecting several items, a vial of the same dust used in Jarek's rounds, an ingot of some metal, a container of polish, and finally he pulled his flute off his back as he returned to the workbench. Argent set down the items, opening the metal vial of dust and setting it down beside the ingot and the polish before placing his flute to his lips as he closed his eyes and began to play.

As he played, his aura, a pale silver, glowed around him and the blade as it began to float and the surface seemed to shift and ripple as he played. The vial of dust floated up and began to empty itself along the blade in a swirling pattern, joining with the metal as he played as pieces of the ingot began to separate from the ingot itself to join the blade, strengthening it before he slowly began to taper off, the music dying down as the saber gently set down on the workbench, parts of it now seeming to glow an electric blue that faded as the aural glow around it dissipated.

"I have finissshed, " Argent said as he opened his eyes, before tapping a stud on the inside of the hilt, causing the blade to collapse inward until all that is left is the hilt. "Here you are Jarek." He said as he handed the hilt to Jarek, pointing to the stud he had tapped. "Ussse that to extend it once more." Jarek was speechless about the whole thing, but was very grateful that his weapons were in more than capable hands.

"Thanks," was all that he could say with a whole flow of thoughts swirling through his mind about the whole experience.

"Sssay Jarek, there isss a sssmell about you that remindsss me of thossse firebombsss but much ssstronger, have you been near a large sssource of the accelerant you ussse in thossse devicesss?" Argent asked him

"I was actually going to bring that up with you." Jarek started. "You see...back in my world...I had an underground...house I guess you can say. And just earlier today, it showed up right in the school's garden and that contained all of my weapons and stuff I had. That includes a large quantity of diesel fuel ...the propellant for Molotovs. The problem is that it's just as dangerous as Dust if not more so, and it's not that pretty either. And to store this all in my room would be a hazard to everyone in the school. So I need to find a safe place to store it and while at the same time, be able to manufacture more Molotovs."

"I sssee. I may have a sssolution, another teammate of mine could help you transssport the material to a portion of my forge I keep for tesssting explosssivesss where you can work on making more and not worry about dessstroying the whole ssschool." Argent offered, seeing a way to help and to get a chance to study the substance.

"Excellent. I'll get the gasoline next trip I come here." Jarek said. "Who is this guy?" He asked, curious.

"Hisss name isss name isss Adam Ex Machina, a teammate asss I mentioned." Argent said before nodding to what Jarek had previously thought was a simple statue, before it moved and opened its eyes, striding up to Argent and Jarek.

"Greetings Jarek, I am Adam." The man said, his voice surprisingly soft for his size but also seemed to have an almost mechanical quality to it. "Where is this material you need my help transporting?"

"Come with me." Jarek said taking him to his room where he had stored all of the gasoline in red jerry cans. "Here, Adam. This is diesel, we need to transport it back to the workshop or otherwise this can be a hazard." Jarek had at least fifteen jerry cans filled with gasoline, and a good five more that are empty.

Adam nodded and pulled his sword off of his back, twisting the hilt, causing it to shift, collapsing until it formed a simple metal quarterstaff which he then slotted five cans onto each end before hefting the laden pole across his shoulders, seemingly without effort as he walked back to the forge and stored the cans before returning to Jarek's room and transporting the remaining cans as well.

Once that was over, Jarek could now finally rest easy that his gasoline will no longer threaten the school and he avoided any chance of getting expelled. With yet another strange day drawing to a close, Jarek decided to call it quits for the night and prepared to go to bed.


	9. Lightning Meets Candles

**Chapter 9: Lightning meets Candles**

It was a friday and Team RWBY plus Jarek decided to enjoy themselves exploring Vale and visiting the docks after they had finished with classes for the day and switched out their respective school uniforms for their default attire. But this time, Jarek couldn't decide which armband to where.

Should he pick his own, or the Children's? After all, he was the White Lightning, the boogie man of every Nazi and all Collaborators. At the same time, he was once the leader of a now extinct partisan group that perished in '41. He remembered the time when they were in the pitched battle, and his friend's murder at the hands of SS Major Peter Muller...The Nazi that he really hates the most of all. In the end, he decided to wear both armbands at the same time on the same arm. His emblem on top, and the other below it. That way he could honor both aspects of his past. But the armband reminded him of the day that the old Jarek Gniewek died and the White Lightning was born. But now in this world, he was simply 'Jarek' once more, and he appreciated the fact that not everyone feared him. And that meant he could really get to know people on a more intimate level than he did before.

He was also understanding the Remnantian or more specifically Valeian way of life. The constant struggle against the Grimm, Dust, transforming weapons, Huntsman and Huntresses, White Fang, and the Four Kingdoms of Remnant. Strange there're only four and not more than that. Back in the world he left behind, there were at least several times more than that. If navigating the constant political interactions between four kingdoms seemed difficult, perhaps a realm with more than just the four will blow people's minds. Nonetheless, he understands why Remnantians are the way they are. Men and women are considered equals in this world. Not the case back home. Or is this world now home. Now looking back, the very idea of patriarchy with men ruling over women disgusts him in every way. Neither gender should be superior over the other, for they can both have equal chances of being good fighters. Though he's still getting accustomed to the advanced technology, such as the World Wide Web, holographic images, and the what not. Even the most advanced machines in his world could not even come close to matching Imagine what the Kingdom of Atlas has. Everything in this world fascinates him, and after being here for awhile, that, even if he was offered a way back home, he would refuse it. Remnant is his new home now, however adoptive, and he was going to fight for humanity, that includes Faunus and humans alike. They're both people after all.

Now, Team RWBY and Jarek were exploring the weekend life of Vale. To see if there's anything of interest. The Vytal Festival is approaching in a few months and everyone was preparing for it in one way or another. Students from the other academies and citizens from every kingdom is coming to see the legendary tournament. It sounded like a more interesting version of the olympics. Last one was in '36 and damned if it wasn't Berlin! At least that black american, Jesse Owens humiliated the whole Third Reich. In your face, Hitler!

"-And that's the story of how I replaced the Nazi's anti-chafing cream with itching cream!" Jarek finished, earning him several laughs from team RWBY as he wrapped up his story.

"How did you manage to get out with no one seeing you Jarek?" Ruby asked him, hanging on his every word with childlike curiosity.

"It was simple, I wore a stolen Nazi uniform and walked right past the sentry, told him I was taking a leak and walked right away." Jarek explained.

The group then lapsed into a silence, well, except for Ruby who was busy ogling the weapons of the various people here for the Festival. "Ooooh, look at that rhino Faunus! He's got a pair of Variant Ballistic Blade Tonfa!" Ruby said, pointing at a rather large figure with a horn protruding from his forehead and the weapons in question, a pair of short swords that switch to bladed tonfa with guns in the handles slung across his back. "Wow! She's got a Dual Dust Cannon!" Ruby cried out, pointing to a tall woman with a ridiculously large weapon over her shoulder.

They continued for a while longer when a sudden explosion occurred several blocks from them, but unlike the rest of the populace, Jarek and team RWBY raced towards the scene, intending to help anyone who may have gotten hurt in the blast. Jarek began by directing people away from it. It was very much chaotic and messy but it was all that the Huntsmen team could do at the moment. As long as the people were going away from danger and to relative safety they were doing their job.

It wasn't until they moved to where the center of the blast had been did they find bodies, but something wasn't right. Some of the dead bore signs of being killed by the explosion but several showed trauma of a different nature. "Looks like we have a murderer on our hands." Blake said, drawing her weapon, her actions mirrored by the rest of them. It was then they heard the sound of slow clapping as a form slowly walked out of the smoke, the glow of a cigar near it's mouth.

"Oh Red, why do we keep meeting like this? If I was spiritual I'd call this karma but I don't know if even I have done enough to deserve the annoyance of you and your fairy tail posse." Roman Torchwick said, stepping out of the smoke as another form appeared at his side, one whose presence made Yang growl and take a step forward. "It's that ice cream bitch from the train!" Yang spat, at which Neopolitan gave a smirk and nodded at Yang. Her outburst put the rest of team RWBY on edge but left Jarek confused.

"Ice cream..what? You mean her? That's the strangest person I've seen so far in this world."

"It's based on her appearance, remember that whole train that would let Grimm into the city we told you about? Well she thoroughly thrashed Yang, and the guy with the cigar and hat is Roman Torchwick, a criminal who is supposed to be locked up." Blake explained, at which Roman chuckled, but his laughter was without mirth.

"Why does everyone insist on bringing up the criminal thing? Anyway, who's the kid with the hat? Finally one of you has some fashion sense." Roman said, looking at Jarek.

"What you mean me?" He shouted at Torchwick full of adrenaline pointing at himself.

"Well since you're the only kid with a hat, yes. Where'd you find this guy Red? Seems as bright as a bucket of doorknobs." Roman sneered, leaning on his cane. Beside him, Neo cracked a smile at the jab. Jarek at that point has no response with words but for actions. He unholstered his G43 variant of Blyskawica and aimed it at Roman and fired. The shot crackled through that air and silence soon followed. Roman blinked and then noticed that he wasn't injured. Then he started to chuckle, and it seemed as if Neo was laughing in her own way as well.

"I like this kid, can't hit the broadside of a barn! Makes my job so much easier in fact-" Roman said before he realized he felt a soft breeze on the top of his head. Reaching up he found his trademark bowler was missing. Turning to Jarek, he saw that it was the partisan who was laughing.

"Funny thing is, Roman. It is I who has the last laugh. For you no longer have proper fashion sense! Oh and did I forgot to introduce myself? I'm Jarek Gniewek, former partisan of the Armia Krajowa. But you'll better know me as that one…'dude' that has a strange looking anchor for an emblem. Or if that doesn't 'ring a bell' then I'm the one who slew the White Fang hit squad sent to kill Team RWBY and other Beacon students."

Roman growled under his breath. "Kid, I've killed men for less than damaging my hat, I am going to make your death slow and painful, Neo!" He said, nodding towards the short girl who nodded and stepped forward. Her silence finally made Jarek realize something.

"You're mute aren't you? Well I have some sign language for you I'm certain you'll understand." Jarek said as he raised both fists and extended the middle finger on each. One for each of these criminals.

Neo cocked an eyebrow as if to say she wasn't impressed but drew a thin sword from her umbrella and pantomimed slitting a throat.

Jarek saw this and grinned and then slinging his rifle over his shoulder as he drew the hilt of his saber from his belt before depressing the plate on the side, which caused the blade to telescope outwards with a series of whirring noises and a clank as it fixed into place. "I've got one too." He said with a grin, holding his sword in his left hand, standing at the ready.

Neo grinned and walked forward with a determined yet deceptively dainty stride, seeming fully confident in her abilities. Jarek however did not wait for her to approach and instead charged forward, bringing his sword down in an overhead chopping motion which was blocked with a clang and spray of sparks as Neo angled her blade in a way that caused Jarek's sword to skate across her own. Neo then struck out, her sword flashing forward almost too fast to follow but Jarek managed to raise his sword and turn the blow aside, quickly striking back with a feint upwards then slashing horizontally, only for his blade to be angled away yet again.

Both fighters leapt back to provide room and a moment to breath, but Jarek quickly charged back in, swinging upwards and to the left, which Neo met and then darted her blade down so that it caught Jarek's wrist and forearm, causing him to drop the blade. Neo smiled then flinched and jumped back, Jarek having caught the sword in his other hand, his dominant hand, and thrusting it towards Neo, making contact with her aura and forcing her to retreat.

"Run, run ice cream girl," Jarek taunted, seemingly ignoring the blood dripping down his left arm. Neo looked back at Torchwick and back at Jarek, realizing she had underestimated her foe, turning back towards Jarek as he slashed, and her image shattered into a thousand pieces, scattering in the wind, leaving Torchwick surrounded.

"Unloyal little brat!" Roman spat before grudgingly raising his hands in surrender, knowing he was outnumbered. "Congratulations, you caught me, I'll be back out in a week." He said mockingly.

"I'm afraid that will not be the case, Mr. Torchwick. For you'll back...in about...never...like those you have slain with your bomb will never rise again from their graves. But I will not kill you. You're going back to this Ironwood fellow and his airship, right where you belong." Jarek said as he took Torchwick's weapon from him while they waited for the police to arrive and take him away.

As Torchwick was being led away, the rest of team RWBY turned to Jarek who had by now stopped the bleeding with a bandage he pulled from the medical supplies he always carried. "That was awesome Jarek! I thought you'd lost or worse when she caused you to drop your sword." Yang said, speaking the thoughts of the rest of the team.

"Old trick I picked up from an old friend, start into a sword duel with your blade in your non-dominant hand, that way if your hand is targeted and hit, you have a hand you are much more familiar and deadlier with ready." Jarek explained.

Weiss of all people seemed impressed. "Clever tactics." She complimented him, which he accepted with a smile.

"Thanks Weiss, so shall we head back to Beacon? I've had enough excitement for one day." Jarek said, at which everyone nodded in agreement as the group began walking back to the airstrip to get a ride to Beacon.


	10. White Eagle VS White Fang

**Chapter 9: White Eagle vs White Fang**

A month had gone by since Jarek had found himself thrust into this new world. Much to his surprise, he was able to adapt himself quite well in this brave new world. He now has new friends and a new life as a huntsman-in-training and it turns out it had suited him quite well as all of his skills as a partisan had made him at the very least moderately prepared to fight the creatures of Grimm. Along with all the weapons that the snake Faunus, Argent had modified, Jarek is well on his way to becoming a powerful if not an unconventional huntsman with unconventional ideas. But little does he know or any of his new acquaintances that the White Fang is still out there and out for revenge. In the interim, Jarek and Blake had grown close, bonding over similar experiences and similar losses. Both of them losing so much. Neither had admitted to the other their feelings, which were obvious to almost everyone else, even Jaune, who still hadn't caught on about Pyrrha.

Jarek and the rest of team RWBY were nearing the end of their first semester and they were scheduled for a mission which involved the White Fang. They were all grabbing their gear and preparing to head to Ozpin's office for the briefing.

As team RWBY plus Jarek walked into his office, Prof. Ozpin looked up as he took a sip from his ever present coffee cup. "Ah, there you are. I shall make this brief, your mission is to infiltrate the White Fang base and gather as much information as you can regarding their overall agenda. If necessary use lethal force." Ozpin said, handing Ruby a map of the base for them to study.

"I wish you all luck, and if you happen to see any high value targets, eliminate them if you can." Ozpin told them, returning to his desk and papers, dismissing the group.

"Okay, we're after the very people that I killed when I came to this world. They'll be very happy to see me I'm guessing." Jarek said to his teammates who he's grown so close to, especially Blake. As with the other three girls, he's grown them to be very close friends and some may argue...siblings. And these were the very people that had taken him captive so long ago…

Ruby led them out of Ozpin's office and through Beacon's halls to the landing field for outgoing and incoming missions. Together they boarded the Bullhead they were to use to get to the base, or near to it before they land.

"So, have any of you guys had a run-in with these guys? Any idea what we're going up against?" Jarek asked the rest of his team.

"Yes, I have and I had hoped never to again." Blake said, which was all Jarek needed to hear. He had learned of her past in the time he had come to know her and decided to leave the subject alone. He had also learned that Blake was also a Faunus with her cat ears hidden under her bow. Jarek wasn't disgusted as some humans may be. It actually gave Blake some respect for Jarek.

"All right team, according to the map Ozpin gave us, the only real entrance we'd have besides just waltzing through the front gate, is this loading dock at the rear of the building." Ruby said, laying out the map and indicating where she meant.

"So we just sneaking through the loading dock and then get to their command center, retrieve the info, then get out of here and we're done with this mission." Jarek summarized.

"Essentially, and remember what Ozpin said, engage only if necessary and HVTs are fair game, but I only want you doing so if you think you can win." Ruby said, slipping into team leader mode, having matured somewhat rather quickly. Jarek switched his fedora last minute with a British Brodie helmet he modified with a blackened paint job and a red and white stripe all across it with his emblem on top of that, and on the back of helmet, he painted the two crossed axes with the wreath representing Beacon Academy...his new and added allegiance. This was going to be a tough mission, and Jarek wanted to be prepared.

About fifteen minutes later the Bullhead set them down on a small rise a fair distance from the base. After making a last minute check, they set off at a brisk pace, quickly arriving near the loading dock. Ruby stepped forward and unfurled Crescent Rose before equipping a silencer attachment, aiming at the dock before quickly and silently taking out the pair of guards that were positioned there.

The team moved stealthily through the docking bay and into the White Fang base. It was a nondescript warehouse of a base so none of the Vale authorities could identify it that easily. They moved deep into the dark facility. They were getting close to the command room, but on the way, Jarek had to dispatch several guards with his Blyskawica.

They soon arrived in the command center, quickly disabling those inside before they began searching for any and all information they could find. Soon, they had discovered all they could and set EMP charges on the electrical systems as they left. As they left the room an alarm suddenly started blaring, seems they had tripped something and now the entire base was on to them.

"Oh Dupa, I don't like that sound." Jarek remarked as a whole swarm of White Fang charged their way through the hallway but he was able to suppress the whole swarm with his submachine gun, forcing them to pull back from the enclosed space. But soon they were in a huge firefight as they escaped into a more open space of the facility which would give them more breathing space to fight in but also made it easier to be surrounded. But it soon became apparent in all of the chaos that they would soon get overwhelmed by the White Fang's superior numbers. The team were trying to find their way to escape.

"Guys! There!" Yang called, pointing to a nearby hallway that led to the loading dock they had used to enter. The beleaguered group made their way towards it but they realized the minute they turned to run they would be cut down. Jarek immediately realized that he must perform the job that Vagabonds are destined to do.

"Ruby, I'll hold them off! You guys get out of here!" He shouted as he then unleashed a whole clip of lead at the White Fang. It made no difference where he aimed, he just needed to fire.

"No! Jarek we are all getting out of here!" Ruby yelled in response, shooting into the group that besieged them.

"If we all run right now, we're all going to die! I'm the Vagabond, remember? I'm disposable. It's your job as team leader to leave me behind so the rest of you all can escape and live to fight another day, now get the hell out of here!" He responded, pulling out his saber and hacking at some of the closer White Fang. He swore that he could see limbs flying off.

"Jarek!" Blake yelled, causing him to turn and look at her, it hurt him to see her eyes containing tears.

"I'm sorry Blake, but if I can give my life so you and the rest of team RWBY can escape, well, I'm okay with that, I've made my peace a long time ago." he said before leaning in and softly kissing her, before turning to the horde before them. "Now, GO!" Jarek roared.

Team RWBY made it out just a few seconds later, Yang having to practically drag a protesting Blake as they ran. "Goodbye everyone," Jarek said as he shed a solitary tear before crying out as he activated his semblance, the now familiar armor quickly forming around him, the helmet forming last as he held his saber high and unleashed the battle cry of a thousand Hussars before charging into the mass of White Fang, his sword rising and falling as blood fountained around him. "Za wolność naszą i waszą! Team RWBY!" He chanted as countless White Fang were slain before him. However, in his haze, he couldn't see the fact that there were explosives set to detonate and the whole place went off like a firecracker and the building collapsed in onto itself...It would once again could be considered the end of the life of this young partisan lost in space and time. But that was not to be...because for some reason, fate decided that he was to live...live to fight another day.

A few hours later, in the night, Jarek woke up to see that he was under a whole array of debris. But there was an air pocket that allowed him to breath and not get crush. _I've cheated death so many times it's almost like death will never wish to take me. Fine by me._ He noted in his mind. He found that there was no real way to get out of this place straight away as tons of concrete had piled on top of him. But nonetheless he decided to use his aura one last time this night, transformed into his Hussar armor and literally hacked his way up to the surface. After twenty agonizing minutes, Jarek was able to break out to see an apocalyptic scene before him. A whole bunch of collapsing rubble and tons of White Fang bodies littered the landscape. But there was one thing that caught Jarek's eyes; the flag. The white and red White Fang flag still flew above his head, however tattered. So he came up to it with a slight limp to his posture. He untied the rope and lowered the White Fang flag and took it off from its pole.

Then soon after he stuffed the tattered and decayed flag into his bread bag, got his spray paint bottle and then painted on an intact piece of concrete his emblem, a Kotwica with three lightning bolts in glow-in-the dark paint with words written in English 'Lightning has struck!' After finishing, he unholstered his mostly unused flare gun, inserted a special flare he had asked to be made, pointed it up in the sky and fired. The flare fired up and seemed to make the night turn day, once it reached a couple thousand feet, it exploded into a firework which did so in the form of his emblem. A signal that he's alive.

"All in a day's work." Jarek noted to himself.

He was amazed that he himself was still alive. His team would assume that he was dead, or worse.

Within minutes a Bullhead was circling above him and a spotlight arrowed down and illuminated him before the vehicle began lowering to the ground, swirling the dust around him as a medical team rushed out to him, the one in front catching him just as he pitched forward, unconscious from exhaustion, pain, and depletion of his aura, his world turning mercifully dark.

 _Epilogue: From Ashes_

When team RWBY had returned to Beacon, they had all been in a state of mute shock and disbelief, all except for Blake, who had been crying softly to herself the entire time. Yang and Weiss had escorted Blake back to their room while Ruby went to Ozpin to deliver the report. She didn't even bother talking to him, merely left the information behind along with a note about the apparent loss of Jarek before returning to the team's room. Unbeknownst to Ruby and the rest of the team, Jarek arrived on Beacon's grounds and was quickly rushed to the medical wing several hours later.

When Jarek came to, Ozpin was sitting beside him, his hands folded atop his cane. "Mr. Gniewek, I was under the impression you were lost to us." Ozpin told them

"Well, I'm not surprised. I told my team to leave me behind. But strangely enough, even for me, I'm still here as flesh and bone." Jarek said almost chuckling at the fact that he was still alive but stopping when the movement caused a spike of pain in his side. "Besides, it takes much more than that to kill a partisan. I came to this world, considered dead to my countrymen. I didn't came all the way here just to die in one damn heap of rubble." It was at that point Goodwitch arrived.

"Ms. Goodwitch. Please don't tell my team that I'm alive, at least not yet. Just tell them to go the medical wing and to my bed. I want it to be a surprise." Jarek said

"Fair enough," she said before turning and striding out of the room, quickly making her way to team RWBY's room and knocking before walking in. "Team RWBY, I know you are all mourning your lost friend, but you are all needed in the medical wing." She said, her only response were curious but muted stares before they all nodded and began making their way to the medical wing.

Blake entered first and all the rest of the team heard was a choked gasp followed by Blake running into the room. The reason soon became apparent as the remaining three looked inside. "Jarek!" Ruby cried out in joy, running in as well, quickly followed by the Yang and Weiss.

"Hey guys," Jarek said, before letting out a loud grunt as Blake barreled into him, hugging him tightly, her shoulders shaking as she sobbed. Jarek, with all of his remaining strength hugged back. He then whispered to Blake's cat ears: "It takes more than that to kill me." He then gave her a long and passionate kiss.

End of Part 1.


	11. The Shadow of Evil and Light of Friends

**Part 2: The Shadow of Evil and the Light of Friends.**

 _Chapter 10 Part 1: March 1945, Bavarian Mountains Underground Complex, Germany_

 _SS Colonel Peter Muller, Officer of the newly formed Reich Colonization Project (RCP) oversaw the construction of the great airship Hindenburg II. A great and powerful warship of the sky equipped with technology foreign to this world and this dimension all together, and it scarcely resembled its previous namesake._

 _Years of being in the war and the SS has hardened him into one of the most brutal and intelligent members in the whole of the SS. All those years on the battlefield and in the concentration camps destroyed any remorse and or empathy in his soul, exactly the material that the Nazis needed to rebuild the Reich in the other world. If only the Jews had not destroyed them so easily. They would have won this war so easily with all the Straub and all those scientists they've abducted in the 'Other World' who had become quite useful in the construction of powerful weapons using the substance known as known as 'Straub'. It would have ensured the survival of the thousand year Reich if it wasn't for those Polak partisans who raided that facility and blew it up. No survivors. Thank providence that it wasn't their only facility._

 _As he was ordering a bunch of inmates around using his notorious whip, his superior, SS Gruppenfuhrer Reinard Krueger. The leader of the SS-Remnant Division. Officially, he doesn't exist. He was a fanatical member of the SS before a grenade thrown by a partisan during a visit to some backwater almost killed him. Thanks to technology from this other world allowed his life to be preserved in a mostly mechanical shell, now more machine than man. His conscious, like Muller's, was destroyed, filled and replaced with a burning rage that consumes the two faster than a constantly lit candle. The damage done, however did not destroy the reasoning and logical thinking side of their mind, if that had been so, then they would have been uncontrollable beasts. The new Reich could seldom afford that._

" _How's the work going, Major?" Asked his superior officer._

" _Slower than I imagined. If only I didn't have untermenschen as labor." Muller snorted with contempt of his own labor force, almost complaining about it._

" _You know full well that we need to conserve our Aryan population for the expedition ahead." Heydrich assured his protégé._

" _Yes, the 'expedition'." Muller sighed._

 _The expedition...very ludicrous at best. The plan was...is now to escape the Allies by traveling to the 'Other World' and reestablishing the Reich there. Muller had long considered it insane at best. How in the hell would they ever be able to travel there? Well apparently, it was through this strange sort of phenomenon that the scientists had referred to it as 'The Portal' a pretty vague thing come to think of it. It's a sort of a gate so to speak that takes you to another world...and that world is going to be their salvation. Even more crazy was the technology, the best scientists in the Reich had to offer had invented an artificial way to use the portal in and out of the Other World. And how do you power the thing either? Muller honestly doesn't want to know in a million years...probably best that way._

" _I just think we should take the fight to the enemy and send those Ivans back to Moscow! And the Tommies back across the channel! And the Yanks all the way back to New York!" Muller ranted to his Gruppenfuhrer._

" _Major, I know full well that you're upset about Moscow. But understand there's nothing we can do. The Allies are closing in and even with these overwhelmingly powerful weapons, their overwhelming numbers will prevail. But one day, we will return here and wreak revenge on the world that has nearly destroyed us."_

 _A long pause occurred between the two men, mentor and apprentice. Wondering what will be the fate of the Reich after the war. Both doubted that it will last long despite what Muller said earlier. But neither of them dared say it or be accused of defeatism._

" _How long until the work will be completed?" Reinhard hinted with anxious and a sort of desperate plea to it, but at the same time, hardened with a stiff resolve._

" _It should be completed within the month. Then SS-Remnant can escape through the artificial portal and then reestablish the Reich...A Fourth Reich but what the hell else awaits them beyond that damn portal? Only time will tell."_

 _Meanwhile, in the notorious place called Auschwitz-Birkenau, A factory of death, Inmate 957734 better known to himself as Yankel Fury, a Polish born-Jew lay strapped to a table slowly regaining consciousness after being experimented on for who knows how long on this cold wooden operating table. It seemed a lifetime ago that he was a freedom fighter fighting with the Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising of '43 and the Warsaw Uprising in the following year. A far cry from his childhood with his many brothers and sisters at the family farm in Poznan. He still yearned for those times to return. In that time frame he developed into a decent partisan, mainly in street fighting. But when the AK capitulated, the freedom fighters were taken to POW camps, little better than the concentration camp he's now in._

 _Yankel had been unlucky enough to be discovered that he was a Jew and was treated accordingly. Since then he'd been a brawler slave, a sort of entertainment for the sake of the SS guards that tormented him for months. Only the fact that he was a good brawler and by his intelligence was he able to survive such ordeals, despite his small stature of 5'7. Then there was a 'doctor' by the name of Joseph Mengele who had been performing strange if not downright immoral experiments on his body. But strangely enough, it did not seem to have hurt him in anyway. It could be the numbness from the pain, or there's no pain to begin with. Whatever it was, his mind is still becoming clear enough that he could formulate an escape plan as there seems to be no one around._

 _Without knowing what's giving him his strength, Yankel yanked free of his restraints got up and tried to stretch out his limbs. But at this point his health was the least of his concerns. He was then able to find his striped inmate uniform that had the yellow star of David labeled 'Jude' in a Hebrew format. He looked around this strange science lab and found it to be deserted. He knew he had to act quickly or risk being discovered. Near the entrance of the lab, Yankel found a SS officer cap and a Feldgrau overcoat and luckily enough, a pair of boots. He put all of them on and walked out of the hospital disguised as a Wehrmacht officer. It would not hold up against much scrutiny. But in this intense winter fog, no one will bother to think twice about the officer in an overcoat._

 _As soon as he left the hospital or whatever it was, Yankel felt the sting of cold bombard his face like a machine gun, but all he could feel was a cautious ember of hope. Thanks to his time in this death camp, Yankel knew where the armory was located and he soon headed over there, making sure that he avoided any of the Nazi guards that crossed his path. If he could manage it, he would then eliminate them from behind with little more than a piece of twine he found lying in his new jacket's breast pocket._

 _Eventually, Yankel entered the armory by breaking down the door and not caring about what happens afterwards. After all, he was going to leave or die trying. He then began to search around for weapons and uniforms that he could use._

 _There was a whole row of German weapons, Mausers, Schmeissers, Lugers, and the one that caught his attention: The MG42. Better known as Hitler's Buzzsaw by everyone who isn't a Hitlerite. He decided to take this weapon as well as a utility belt and the couple layers of warm clothing that he could find. But with his limited strength, he couldn't carry too much so he just carried the '42 with drum magazines and a spare one. He also removed the bi-pod as he considered it to be useless. After putting on a coal-scuttle helmet, he headed back into the winter fray._

 _He will escape, but there was one thing he must do first._

 _Based on his faded shadow he concluded that the time must be somewhere around 7:00 and consequently, all the officers would be in the mess eating dinner. All the officers and commandants in the local sector in any case, as not all personnel ate at the same place. But he knew from experience there were at least forty SS officers that ran the gas chambers and slaughtered so many of his people. If he could he would have forced them all into the gas chamber and threw in the Zyklon B himself, but there wasn't any time for that._

 _Yankel approached the mess hall by the side. In such a way that the cooks, who were fellow inmates, were not in the way. The cheer and talking could have been heard a mile away. All the officers were talking cheerfully as they gorged themselves of food and drink stolen from those who were arriving by transport every day._

 _He then loaded his drum magazine into the well of the Buzzsaw, pulled back the bolt to put one in the chamber, placed the Buzzsaw on his hip and then yanked the trigger. There was no point in accuracy._

 _Hitler's Buzzsaw let rip a maelstrom of lead and the cheers degraded into screams and shrieks. He'd never heard anyone scream the way they screamed. Not even his people who were being murdered in the gas chambers. The Buzzsaw sounded like a canvas being ripped apart and not an actual machine gun as he had imagined. The wooden structure of the mess hall proved no protection against lead going at a very high velocity. In just fifteen seconds, the whole thing was over and the Buzzsaw barrel was almost glowing red as steam from the falling snow rose from around the barrel. All that could be heard was moaning, crying, and terror in the sounds of the German SS officers as they lay dying._

' _That's fine.' Yankel said to himself. 'Better for them to live in agony.'_

 _The alarm sounded after it was over and the SS guards scrambled all over the place. But Yankel doubted that he would be detected as he's wearing an SS uniform and the guards were looking for an inmate in striped pajamas, not one of them who had committed the crime._

 _He then literally walked out of the camp of Auschwitz. The heavy fog gave him an excellent cover to escape under. He wondered how this would have affected the remaining inmates in the camp. Doubtless a couple hundred would be killed in reprisals. But Yankel didn't care all that much, as they were going to die anyway as part of the Nazi's 'Final Solution'. Besides, he became way too desensitized with all the death and killing in his young life. He's only sixteen and experienced enough death for many lifetimes._

 _Yankel walked out of Auschwitz and allowed himself to consumed by the fog, and disappeared without a single trace. Nobody ever saw or heard of Inmate 957734 ever again. Not in this world at least._

 **Chapter 10, Part 2: Next Semester**

It was the end of summer and Jarek Gniewek, former partisan and current Huntsman-In-Training was almost finished recovering from the events of the attack on the White Fang facility. He can now walk now, however with a limp. But soon that will disappear. He heard that the doctors had even enhanced his leg with some strong implants of some kind that increased the endurance of that limb while doing the same operation to the other leg to balance that out. In that time, not being able to practice anything huntsmen related had hurt him. Apart from studying Grimm anatomy and catching up on his school work as he was behind the rest of his team academically.

However, whenever he wasn't studying, he was drawing and painting. For the most part, the subject matter was about his past experiences. Both in back home in the world that he is native to, and his new life in Remnant. Right now, he was doing a sketch of a soldier, a partisan, using his late friend Wiktor as a reference. The partisan was wearing a German coal scuttle helmet wrapped in the white and vermilion colors of Poland. It was scratched up here and there, but it was intact. The wearer, however, was wounded with a bandage covering his right eye and it was still bleeding. Nonetheless, the soldier defies the circumstances by smiling slightly, only slightly, not unlike the Mona Lisa.

It was at that moment, his girlfriend and teammate, Blake Belladonna knocked on his door.

"You can enter Blake." Jarek hollered out. She entered his amazing museum of a dorm room that's undoubtedly one of the most, if not the most interesting rooms that Blake had ever seen. She had done this quite often during the break. As she, Jarek and a few other students such as Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren have stayed in Beacon during the break as they have nowhere else to go.

"Hey, Jarek. How is your art going?" Blake asked.

"It's fine. This is more for therapeutic reasons than anything else." He explained. "But there is something I wanted to show you." He said almost contemplating whether he should show Blake his paintings. But he decided to go on with it. She should see it eventually after all.

He then got up and limped to a bunch of canvases that were draped in nylon cloth of sorts and he unraveled it and revealed a whole series of paintings. They were all very beautiful and well done and Blake counted at least seven. The first one showed of a farm in morning and in bright day, with farm animals and a barn and a house. But everything looked archaic and such, especially with the farm equipment. It was titled 'August 1939".

The next one showed the same farm in the same perspective. But it was at night and the farm and the barn were burning brightly with a huge row of strange vehicles and what looked like motorcycles moving across the road. That was titled "September 1939".

The third one showed what looked like humans, but there were all black and wore the same type of helmets that Jarek painted for Weiss, and what intrigued Blake that they had glowing red eyes like Grimm. And they seemed to be murdering civilians or rounding them up or something like that but she couldn't quite make them out. It was titled "The Monsters Come." The fourth one showed what appeared to be a map like what Jarek had on his wall. With a crowned White Eagle being attacked by a black demonic sort of eagle and a brown grizzly bear. It was titled "We're lost". The fifth one was a small group of people wearing the same green armbands that Jarek started to wear and it was night and in a forest and they seem to be preparing an ambush against the human Grimm. It was titled "Children of the Forest." And the sixth one showing the same people fighting the human Grimm in what seemed to be a desperate last stand. But the seventh one was a little more interesting. "Part 2" It showed the same White Eagle shown in the earlier pieces, bloodied and with a broken crown, but bandaged and seemed to have an avenging look to it that seemed almost human. It had a white and red ribbon clenched within its claws. The final one, seemed to be a little more hopeful and it showed a burning Eagle, but not with a sense of fear but of hope that the ashes would give birth to something more and in the center, was a big anchor like Jarek's emblem. This one was labeled: "Rise Again."

"I wanted to show you this this for a while. I figured It was time to give my past experiences a visual appearance, a human face as it were." Jarek explained, turning to Blake.

Blake stood there for a moment, taking in the arrayed canvases before her. She finally started moving and began inspecting them. At the one titled "Home 1939" she stopped and looked over at Jarek. "Is this when your home was first invaded?" She asked him, her voice full of sympathy.

"Yeah. But it didn't happen exactly like that. Not for me at least. Germans don't look like that per say. It is more to show a personal...psychological truth. They hated us Poles, in a similar way some humans hate Faunus. They thought we were lazy and dirty. But that was a few years ago… What happened to my family...my mother." He said.

"I'm sorry Jarek, I can only guess the next one is when the war first began, but what about this one with the people with the armbands like yours?" Blake said, pointing at that painting.

"They were my friends. I'll show you." Jarek said as he got out his wallet and gave a black and white photograph to Blake. As Blake inspected it, it showed at least six people. One of them, she recognized as Jarek albeit younger with a few other people that she didn't know.

"That was Kuta, Wiktor, Julia, David, and Gosia." He said naming them from left to right.

"We were all scouts. Friends from the same village. Life was simple back then...So when the war hit, we decided to fight back…It wasn't so simple. You see, back home, the Nazis had a bizarre secret program called 'Lebensborn'. In short, it was to breed the master race, the perfect human. By that they meant blond hair, blue eyes, pale skin. They even had these twisted hostels where women would have illegitimate children that would 'inherit the earth'. But it wasn't going fast enough for them. To speed up the process, the Nazis send troops to abduct children in the kingdoms they controlled and have them adopted by German families. I fell prey to this policy. Many other children and teenagers as well. So, we the Children built an enclave in the forest, a refuge for us all to hide and ride out the war. And on occasion, we would do raids to get supplies and do whatever it took to survive." Jarek said, a touch of sorrow in his voice.

"What happened to them?" Blake asked him.

Jarek hesitated on what to tell her. He had spilled a lot of his guts already to her and he didn't want too much sympathy from her, that was just the way he is, but he kind of went to the point of no return already, so he sighed and explained the story.

"It was in June of '41. Four years ago, I think. The Germans invaded the Soviet Union in the east. To ensure their rear was secure. They sent frontline troops in anti-partisan sweeps. We suffered the same fate. Frontline, crack SS troops fresh from France to go and deal with us. Because of all the trouble we caused them to get supplies as well as the raids against them whenever they entered our territory, they thought we were a thousand strong. We tried to evacuated our enclave to another location, with us to fend off the attack long enough for them to escape...But they had armored cars and vehicles and we were overwhelmed eventually. Only a small fraction of the children escaped. Most got captured and shipped to Germany or shot if they resisted..." He then explained, his voice breaking at the end as he turned away, his emotions overwhelming him. Nonetheless, he continued. "...The sweep was performed by a Major of the SS, a man named Peter Muller. I hate that bękart out of all of them...I was the only one to escape…"

Blake frowned in sympathy as she walked over and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, offering comfort to the partisan. "I'm so sorry Jarek," she whispered to him. Jarek then wrapped his arms around her as well. "It's all right. But thank you, Blake. I haven't told anyone this yet. Not even Ozpin. But I thought that it was too incredible…" He then drifted off unable to think of the words to express himself. "I thought that no one would believe me…" He then drifted onto other thoughts. "But even after all of that. There was one thing that kept me going: Revenge. That day I swore that I'll live to kill as many Hitlerite monsters as possible. I wanted to destroy every one of them. They took everything from me. My country, my family, my home. And I wanted to take everything from them...But now I'm here in another world that isn't mine. I have to find my reasons to fight all over again...But I think I've found it."

Blake smiled as she pulled back and looked at Jarek. "Then I'm glad Jarek, I know how it feels to be without a purpose so I'm glad you found yours. "She said.

"It's this world." He then, which surprised Blake. "I know this world isn't perfect. No place is truly utopic. But this world has hope…Remnant is weird but beautiful and has hope for the future. And it's a world worth dying for." He explained.

Blake smiled at Jarek and his obvious new driving force. "Jarek there are sadly few people like you." Blake said standing beside him.

As they were about to share a passionate kiss, a knock suddenly broke up the mood and took them back to reality. Jarek then opened the door and lo and behold it was Ms. Goodwitch.

"Mr. Gniewek, I need you to come with me."

"What's going on?" Jarek asked, curious but feeling like he's in trouble is some way.

"It's difficult to explain. I'll tell you everything on the way."

Yankel Fury trotted his way through the impenetrable fog. He's never seen anything like this before. He can't see anything. All references of time and space feel diminished. It seemed that there was no end to this toil...this pain. His legs were burning; he's dehydrated and malnourished. But he must keep going, he cannot stop...He will not stop until he finds something. But what? He keeps asking himself, there's nothing. His Buzzsaw keeps weighing him down...weighing down too much. He considers ditching it but abandons that idea too. He still needs it to mow down anyone that stands in his way. But will anyone find him?

But then, the fog's tint suddenly turned from a lights gray sort of a color to a very dark shade of gray almost instantaneously. Yankel was a little surprised but wasn't startled as his body lacked the strength to even be surprised anymore. But when he made many more steps, his tired mind noticed that he's walking on smooth undisturbed concrete. This may mean he's near safety of some kind. It filled his body with hope. Suddenly out of nowhere the fog shows him a strong wooden door of some kind. Summoning the last of his strength, Yankel then tried to bash the door with his Buzzsaw like a battering ram. It was no use. But as he collapsed, it seemed his prayers of salvation was answered when the door opened and he saw some figure silhouetted in the background, but he couldn't make details as he fell into unconsciousness.

Glynda Goodwitch had seen many things in her time working at Beacon, but this was the first time a stranger stumbled from seemingly nowhere and knocked on the main door, in the middle of the night no less. It was nothing that she had ever seen before. Nothing was stranger than this. But her thoughts were put in the back of her mind, as her training kicked in, she immediately called for help from the medical wing before bending down and hauling up the unconscious form before handing him off to the freshly arrived medical staff before bending down again and grabbing the strange weapon he had carried as she closed the door behind her.

Jarek and Ms. Goodwitch walked directly to the infirmary and Jarek was wondering what was going on and for some reason. He doubted it was because he needed his leg to be checked out again.

"So what's going on, Ms. Goodwitch? Has something happened?" Jarek asked wondering where this was going to.

"Last night, a person walked in out of the fog storm, he managed to knock on the door before falling unconscious." Glynda told him.

"Okay. But can you give me any more details than that?" Jarek asked. "He could be from Timbuktu as far as I know."

"Where? Never mind, he woke up this morning and started to talk in the same language you were speaking when you first showed up." Glynda told him, stopping outside a door. Jarek at that moment snapped into a sudden state of attention.

"You mean he speaks Polski? My language? Them I must talk to him right away. But I must know...what was he wearing?"

"He was wearing a large gray over coat, underneath he wore striped clothes. On his arm was a seemingly branded tattoo of a series of numbers, and on the breast of the striped clothes there was a yellow star drawn with multiple lines." Glynda told him. That statement caused Jarek to stop cold in thought. This meant only one thing: The person who walked into Beacon is Jewish! From his world! And a Polish Jew for that matter. That means a fellow Polak! But more importantly, this must have meant that he was from the camps...From the death camps that were rumored to exist. Jarek knew they existed, he had seen one for himself, but at a distance. He heard the rumors going about after all, many dismissed them but deep down in his mind, Jarek knew the truth.

"Oh Dupa." Jarek then said with a chill. "This could only mean one thing."

"What Mr. Gniewek?" Glynda asked him. Jarek couldn't find an answer straight away. There was too much to explain...too much to tell. Too much to dump on Ms. Goodwitch.

"He's a survivor…" Was all that Jarek could tell Ms. Goodwitch given all the thoughts racing through his mind.

"A survivor? A survivor of what?" Glynda asked him, pressing him for information.

"... The final solution…"

Glynda had no idea what this 'final solution' truly meant. But it's very word sounded like something terrible, something sinister and ominous occurring. As if a terrible crime was being committed.

"Does that mean, what I think it means?" She asked the former freedom fighter.

"Yes...genocide. That is what you would call it."

Glynda blinked, the only outward sign that she had been deeply shaken by the confirmation. Remnant had its own share of a dark and bloody past, just because humanity had discovered the use of Dust did not mean things had been better. The Faunus, having been allies and comrades in the fight to survive, had been dismayed when their former friends and neighbors turned on them. Thus, Remnant had experienced several bloody events, ranging from small scale murders to the dreaded pogroms, the killing of a community of Faunus within a city or village, that lead to streets running red with blood. Glynda had read of the bloody past, but to her it had always seemed so far away and unreal, but having seen the young man in the next room, it now seemed all too real.

"Mr. Gniewek, this young man has been through much, I hope that you being there and speaking a familiar language will help," Goodwitch told him, finally snapping out of thoughts of Remnants past.

"It should. But did he have anything else with him when he came here? Like weapons or any other form of gear? I could use that as a talking point."

Glynda nodded, reaching into her pocket and pulling out her scroll, quickly pulling

up the pictures she had taken of the outfit and weapon the young man had been in possession of.

"He was carrying this weapon and this jacket, the jacket was ill fitting but probably saved his life." Glynda told Jarek, handing him the scroll. Jarek borrowed the scroll and after a quick look at it, nodded in head in conferment.

"Yup. Just as I suspected." Jarek said giving the scroll back to Goodwitch. "This person is indeed from my world. That jacket is a SS standard overcoat and the boots as well. The weapon is an MG42 machine gun though strangely there's no bipod. But that doesn't matter. He stole those weapons; Nazis will never give weapons to inmates."

"I see. I have sent the weapon to Argent to analyze, his jacket is in the room with him, maybe he put something in the pockets that belonged to him if he could manage it, do you want to go in now?" She asked him, taking her scroll back.

"Definitely." Jarek said as they both walked right into the hospital wing. Though it was a somewhat quiet day. Everything was made out to seem normal. But it was far from it. Less than a minute later, they went into the room where the stranger was. The curtain was drawn so the boy could be given privacy and a sense of protection.

"Okay. Ms. Goodwitch, I'll talk with him alone initially. I first will need to talk to him to gain his trust. He'll most likely suspect that this is a Nazi facility of some kind and it could all be a trick. I must disprove any notion of that." He explained, quickly putting on his signature emblem armband that at this point was recognizable to everyone in beacon as an 'exotic' symbol.

Goodwitch nodded and left the room, closing the door behind her with a soft click. After the door closed, Jarek slowly approached the curtain, stopping when he reached it. Clearing his throat, he spoke softly in Polish, his words meant to identify him as a friend.

'Who...are you? What is this place?' the boy demanded. His eyes and his emaciated look that he went through a lot in his young life. Then he recognized the armband that Jarek wore and he opened his eyes with renewed energy of some kind in disbelief.

'You're the White Lightning?' The boy asked.

'That's me.' Jarek replied. 'I'm the White Lightning. The one and only.'

'But I thought you were dead. You were killed in the attack on that one place…' the boy's speech blurred out as he couldn't spit anything out in his disbelief.

'Well...not exactly, my friend. And this place you're in is as far away from any Nazis or Anti-Semites as you could ever be.'

'What do you mean by that?'

'By that, my friend. You're not in the place you think you're in. This place you're in is not exactly a hospital. But rather a strange kind of school.'

'A medical school?' The White Lightning laughed at Yankel's suggestion.

'No not that kind of school. This is just an infirmary of a much bigger place called 'Beacon'. And if you think that this is all a dream or heaven, I'm afraid that you're wrong, while better than our home, it is not always a pleasant place. I'm going to sit on this chair and tell you a few things…By the way what's your name?'

'...Yankel Fury...and are you going to kill me? You know that I'm a Jew and all."

"No no no. Not at all. In fact, I'm here to help you. Nobody around here knows what a Jew is. Besides, I'm no anti-Semite."

For the next forty-five minutes or so, Jarek began explaining to Yankel about the world he's in. First telling him how he got here, to some of the place and events of 'Remnant' this world he's now in. It took a little convincing, but it was enough to persuade Yankel that that was the truth.

'Well holy dupa.' Yankel could only say. 'And I thought I was crazy.'

'You're not. Now I'm going to be right back with a few Beacon teachers. There anxious to know your story. For some strange reason, they all speak a sort of American English here.' Jarek left the stand leaving, but before that happened, Yankel motioned towards his coat, Jarek then searched through the pockets and found a red and white armband that said 'A.K.W' it stood for 'Armia Krajowa Warszawa' or 'Home Army Warsaw'. Jarek took the armband to show the teachers as he left. Sort of in disbelief that Yankel was also a Home Army Fighter. Being a survivor of the final solution was an ordeal enough.

When he exited the stall, he was met by Ms. Goodwitch, Professor Port, and Professor Oobleck.

"Well Mr. Gniewek? Are we able to come in?" Ms. Goodwitch asked him.

"Yes. He's ready. He says his name is 'Yankel Fury'." Jarek noted "And I found this." He presented Goodwitch with the kid's armband. Goodwitch took the band and briefly inspected it before the four walked in and crowded into the somewhat small cramped space though it was only curtain dividers.

"You said your name was Yankel Fury correct?" Ms. Goodwitch asked him, speaking gently. With Jarek acting as translator and translating everything from English to Polish and in similar tone to Goodwitch.

'Yes, that's indeed my name. I'm also known as Inmate: 957734.' Yankel said almost as if he expected his answer would get him punished.

"I see. I assume Mr. Gniewek has already informed you of where you are to the best of his abilities. While myself and my colleagues are here to learn what we can from you, feel free to ask any question." Glynda told him.

'I will be happy to tell you everything…' Yankel started.

'I'm a Jew from Poznan, in Poland. I was from a rich farm family. I had many brothers and sisters. Twelves siblings in all. Eight sisters and five brothers. We lived in a great big house in open country...all the neighbors were so jealous of us. Especially our neighbors. But apart from that everything was fine. I still miss those great open fields of the family farm. I miss them so much." Yankel paused for a minute.

'But when the Germans came, they expelled us from our farm and took everything from us herded us into the Ghetto in Warsaw, my little sister already dead from malnutrition. There, everything was cramped. Several thousand of my people living within just a few square miles of space. And... we lived there for a couple of years. Fifty people died each day from starvation. The Nazis intended to work us to death in their factories. We were paid nothing, and given almost no food. But thanks to my father's skill as a businessman, we managed to stake out a living there. My family was somehow able to if not survive, then at least, not die. Then there was a new kind of normal. One in which everything seemed...alright...given the circumstances.

But that all changed once again when in April 1943, they decided to liquidate the Ghetto and transport them to the east. But some of us decided we had enough. God had abandoned us and it was time to put fate in our own hands. We rose up, and tried to kill many of them as possible. But the fight was doomed to begin with. The Nazis retaliated by outright killing our people if they tried to escape, run away, or even be any kind of problem to them. Those images are still in my mind to this day. And that was just a year ago...a lifetime. When I was trying to escape the hell hole. I saw my family on the other side of the street. Lined up behind the wall and they were all machine gunned to death with one burst. My whole world fell apart after that. I'm the only survivor of my family to this day, as I was among the only ones who escaped out of the Ghetto and disappeared into hiding." Yankel said all with a solemn voice with not much tears flowing down.

"Dreadful! Simply dreadful young man, you have my deepest sympathies." Prof. Oobleck said, hanging his head in sympathy.

"Please go on if you can Mr. Fury," Goodwitch said to him, giving him the option to not continue.

'No, I will go on. You must know what happened. You must know that happened there!' Yankel almost shouted but soon calmed down. 'As I was saying. I was only able to escape by choking a Nazi soldier to death with a string of yarn. Then I took his clothes and I just walked out of the Ghetto.'

"Thank you for telling us this Mr. Fury. I know my words probably will not help, but you have my deepest condolences." Ms. Goodwitch said, hesitantly laying her hand on Yankel's arm.

"And mine as well, it is a truly terrible story. I can only hope things here in Remnant and relations with the Faunus never reach that point." Oobleck said softly.

Prof. Port was, for once in his life, speechless.

'Faunus…' Yankel whispered. 'Strange things...But not even finished. Anyway, I went into hiding and joined the Home Army as a partisan and I went to one of their combat schools for a little over a year. I then learned how to fight and kill even better. I was filled with hatred then and still now. All I lived for was to kill as many of those who'd taken my family away from me. We got our chance, a year and a half later after those terrible days. In August 1944, by then the war was turning against Germany, the Red Army was at the river Vistula, just sixty miles away at most. We then decided to revolt against the hated Nazis once and for all. To liberate our city and reinstall our government and have freedom come to us once more. Initially we had success, we were supported by the people through and through. It was soldiers vs civilians. This became known as the Warsaw Uprising. We fought long and hard and like rats. From the city streets to the sewers. They took a lot of casualties. But it was a lost cause if the Red Plague didn't come to rescue us from the other side of the river. They never came. And after sixty-two days of fighting...we surrendered...conditionally...we were all given the status of POWs and not killed outright.

It was then the Nazis destroyed what was left of Warsaw, expelling hundreds of thousands of people and by the end of it...it was little more than a ghost town and a city of broken dreams...'

'What!? Warsaw is…gone?!' Jarek said aghast, the concept difficult to imagine.

'Warsaw's a heap of ruins, Jarek. There's not much left apart from that.'

"Okay, now can you tell us anything about how you got here? Please try and remember." Prof. Goodwitch asked him.

'...Alright. When they all marched us out to POW camps, one of the Nazis recognized me as a Jew and instead of killing me they took me to Auschwitz. And it was a death camp...those who came in... never came out of it...except in the black smoke. But they selected me out for some reason. I still don't know why, but then in the camp, the guards started a demonic boxing club of sorts. Where they had fellow inmates like us fight to the death. I survived all my matches. Then after my final match, the guards took me to some doctor called "Mengele". He then injected me with some strange serums and did some strange experiments on me. I don't remember what, I blacked out, thank God.

Then, I suddenly woke up, and I was strapped to an operating table. Strangely, I had the strength to rip myself free. I found the lab to be deserted. Then I stole some boots and an overcoat as it was winter. Then I went to a local armory. Found a machine gun, then went to the mess hall where the SS guards dined for lunch. An even stranger fog covered my movements, yet I could see. Then outside the mess hall. I just let rip on my captors and I tore the place apart. Then I just walked outside of the camp, and into a strange void. Then the sky turned black but still with fog suddenly and I found a door. I was starving so I was trying to bash it in in hopes of salvation. Then it all went blank. And I found myself in this room with you in it.' Yankel said to Prof. Goodwitch.

"Thank you for telling us all this Mr. Fury, I can only imagine how hard it was to tell us all of this," Prof. Goodwitch said, smiling in sympathy.

"I know it may be hard, but if in the future you feel like recounting to me information of your world and your experiences, I'd be willing to help you put them in writing." Dr. Oobleck said, trying to help in his own way. During all of this, Prof. Port remained speechless, perhaps showing how greatly he was affected.

'I'll be glad to. This world must know what evil truly means.' Yankel said in response. Then as they all started to leave Jarek decided he would pay a visit to Argent and check in on Yankel's weapon. But before he left, Yankel had one question.

'Ms. Goodwitch, what will become of me?' he asked with Jarek translating on the fly.

"As I see it, once you heal up, you will have a choice to make. Your first option is to wash your hands of this and we will help you get set up to provide for yourself in this world. Your second option is much simpler, you become a student here at Beacon." Ms. Goodwitch told him before walking out.

Yankel then realized that he has plenty of time to weigh those two options. It's not like that he was going anywhere anytime soon, given the condition he's in. If this was just him only a year ago he would consider the first option. Based on what Jarek told him, Yankel figured that these 'huntsmen' fight some type of monsters called 'Grimm' and that they are to protect this world of 'Remnant' the second option sounded more appealing to him. But there was no need to think about it now. He'll rest for a while.

Jarek Gniewek decided it was high time to get to Argent's armory to see what he found out about the MG42 that Yankel carried with him to this world. When Jarek walked in, Argent stood at his "forge" and in true blacksmith style, was stripped to the waist, revealing, in addition to many masses of scars, a pattern of scales in multiple places along his back. Without turning around, Argent raised a hand before finished what he was working on and finished the music he was using before turning to Jarek, shrugging on his usual vest minus the cloth wrappings he usually wore beneath it. "Greetingsss Jarek," He said, letting his tongue, seemingly forked, flick from between his lips.

"So I guess I was right, you are a Faunus, snake if I'm not wrong." Jarek said in a conversational tone.

"Indeed, I'm ssurprisssed it took you thisss long to be certain, but I feel certain you aren't here to disscusss my heritage, what can I do for you?" The smith asked as he set his flute down.

"No. Honestly, I don't give a damn, you're a friend to me and that's all that matters. Anyway, I believe you heard of a stranger incident?" Jarek mentioned.

"Indeed I have, hisss weapon is fasscinating to me, from what I can gather it wasss meant to be ussed to overpower anyone ssstanding on the bussinesss end." Argent said to Jarek, folding his arms across his chest.

"You're 'right on the money', Argent. That weapon is known as an MG42. To anyone who isn't a Nazi, it's known as 'Hitler's Buzzsaw' and trust me, it can cut wood."

"Hmm, 'Buzzssaw' I like the sound of it, tell me, doess it do more than cut wood or isss it a ridiculoussly dessigned saw?" Argent asked him.

"It's much more than that. What you're holding is one of the most powerful machine guns you will ever see. It fires at such a high rate of fire, that it doesn't even sound like a gun. More like a piece of canvas being ripped apart. Plus, it's damn scary! Trust me, I've been fired on by that one too many times."

During Jarek's description, Argent had gone and retrieved the gun, despite its rather hefty weight of 25 pounds, Argent hefted it in one hand before setting it on the table in front of him. "I ssee. Am I to modify it asss I did yoursss?" The smith asked, a gleam in his eye at the prospect.

"Not exactly, our stranger isn't yet sure if he wants to join Beacon or not. But I think he'll consider it seriously. In the meantime, don't do any mods yet. Just plan it out."

"Jarek, you wound me. I have had thisss piece for about a day and you asssume I haven't already made a plan for modificationsss, ssseveral in fact." Argent said nodding to a bin full of blueprint tubes.

"Excellent. If and when the stranger decides to attend Beacon. Run them by him and make him pick the one he likes."

"That I can do, anything elssse you need of me Jarek?" Argent asked the partisan.

"Not that I can think of, anything right now. If I think of anything, I'll let you know." Jarek said. "Anyway, I'll have to go and talk to Blake, now." Jarek said. Then he left Argent to do his thing. He then walked across Beacon's empty halls to go and find his girlfriend, Blake Belladonna to explain where he has been for the last few hours.

Jarek found Blake, where else, in the library, her head buried in a book so only her bow poked above the top, something Jarek found amusing as every now and then it would twitch due to her ears, seeming like some bizarre periscope.

"Blake, I knew I'd find you here," Jarek said as he walked over to her.

Blake looked up and smiled as she saw Jarek. Marking her page before closing her book, she motioned for Jarek to have a seat. "So Jarek, where have you been all day?" She asked him, her eyes questioning.

"Well...This will take a while…."


	12. Intrusion

**Chapter 11: Intrusion**

"...and that is the gist of it." Jarek finished about an hour and a half later.

"My god that's horrible, I'm just glad he made it here alive," Blake said, her ears, having been freed from her bow, twitching in agitation.

"So am I. But I don't think he got the salvation in the way he expected it. Anyway, he's in the hospital wing now. The doctor's say that he's been suffering from malnutrition and a case of dehydration. However, they did mention it wasn't anything that isn't curable. They're more worried about the psychological problems he may face. But he did seem of sound mind to me for what he'd been through."

"I hope you're right Jarek, but while I never went through what he did, I know how it feels to carry the scars of past abuses," Blake said, laying her hand on Jarek's arm.

"Yeah. Ms. Goodwitch gave him an offer to attend Beacon. I don't know whether he'll choose to join but something tells me he will...I will also be speaking to him daily so he can be better assimilated into this world." Jarek said as he smiled at Blake.

"Anyway, we should get headed to the dining hall, it's almost time for dinner," Blake said as she stood and collected her book. Then the two headed to the cafeteria to get something to eat. It's been a surprisingly exhausting day for them both.

It had been a week since Yankel Fury found himself escaping the Auschwitz death camp and finding himself in another world. Honestly, he was glad that he was in a different world. It was a fresh start on life. The doctors now say that he'll be back to normal back to in no time. It was sort of a judgement day for him. Go into the unknown again, or join Beacon. He's unsure which to take, but he knows which option he wants to take. The descriptions of the outside world the White Lighting had given him were a little terrifying. The Grimm was something that scared, him but not a lot. The horrors of the Grimm appear to be nothing compared to that of a Nazi Death Camp. The horrid things in those camps were beyond words and he was anxious to escape it. In fact, as there was nothing much else to do, Yankel was given a scroll and had begun to play a strange game called "Angry Grimm" and apparently scored in the top 10 percent. Not bad at all.

Unbeknownst to Yankel, Beacon was being invaded. The White Fang had mounted an attack, intending to hit Beacon at its weakest. They had already managed to make it through the main hall, and were spreading out into Beacon. Then they burst right into the hospital wing to search of wounded huntsmen and huntresses to be finished off. Fortunately, the only one who was in the hospital wing is Yankel. Everyone else is either at home for the summer, or around their daily business.

"Where's all the students? I know they're here!" One of them sounded off like he was God.

"I don't know, sir. There's simply no one here!"

"Can't be, search room to room, if nothing else we'll find some useful med supplies," The one who seemed to be in charge said. Yankel meanwhile had leveraged himself from his bed and grabbed a nearby IV stand, standing ready to use it as a weapon. He then stood, hiding behind the curtain to ambush the would-be ambushers. Then finally, one of them opened his curtain and didn't know what hit him when Yankel smashed it right into his face and knocking him off balance. He then proceeded to smash his head just enough to ensure death and for him to make less noise. The plan worked. He did not make a squeak. He then found a weapon of some kind. A sort of colorful revolving carbine. Strange. But it should do. He also found a surgical utensil that might come in handy as a knife.

Yankel then peaked around and found two curious 'White Fang' who were wondering what happened to their buddy. He waited for them to pass by aimlessly. Then he emerged and let rip with his new weapon, eliminating them as threats.

'I do not understand this weapon, but I like it,' Yankel said to himself before leaving the medical wing and began hunting for anyone wearing the masks he'd seen the previous attackers wearing, just like a huntsman defending Beacon. He knows nothing of these attackers but as far as he's concerned, they're the bad guys. They wanted to kill those who were helpless. That's all he needs to know.

As he moved through the building, killing all hostiles he found, he entered one room where he found three people; a woman in black wearing a bow, a man he recognized as Jarek, and a taller man in a gray cloak swirling around in time with his movements, wielding what seemed a double-headed scythe.

Yankel approached the strange man, who was clearly an ally. The man turned around and noticed him and concluded the same thing.

"...where's...bad guys?" He managed to say in English.

"Dead here, any more the way you came or have you handled them ssstranger?" The man asked.

"... No... don't think...we must huntings time." Yankel managed to croak out in English.

"Would you be the man who had the large gun with him?" Argent asked this stranger in a hospital gown.

"T-That be me. Yankel Fury." He introduced himself offering a hand to shake.

Argent accepted the handshake, grasping Yankel by the forearm as he shook. "A pleasssure to meet you, I actually have your gun with me," Argent said as he gestured to a pack he wore on his back. Reaching back, he pulled it from the pack, handing the gun to Yankel. The boy was happy to have his weapon back.

"T-Thank you. Now...we killing…" Yankel said anxious to find more baddies to shoot.

The four of them then began to systematically search the school, eliminating as many White Fang as they found. Eventually, they had driven all the White Fang they could find out, now meeting up with the rest of the defenders as the medical staff showed up.

"Okay, everyone. The White Fang seemed to have attempted to intrude on our school. We have now let them know that we don't take these things lightly." Ozpin announced to the defenders. He then noticed Yankel and deep inside he smiled. One more huntsman in his school.

"I wish to thank each and every one of you for your part in defending the school, if you need medical attention, please report to any of our medical staff. If you can still stand. We're going to push them back and force them to retreat. For while we have driven them from our halls, they still lurk within our grounds." Ozpin told those assembled.

Then the whole group of Huntsmen in training walked through a world of hurt as the White Fang hit squad made a sort of last stand at the front gate of Beacon. Then they got into an intense firefight with the Beacon defenders. All sorts of colorful bullets flew in either direction. Yankel let his Buzzsaw scream a few bursts into the enemy. But it didn't seem little good. Then he notices a way to end the stalemate.

'Jarek,' Yankel started. 'This will not do. These bastards are going to kill us if we don't do something.' He said it in Polish but at this point nobody cared.

'Any ideas?'' Jarek said, giving his trust he knows what to do.

'Do you have any grenades?' suggested the young Jewish partisan, the thrill of combat returning to him since the Battle of Warsaw, and the pain along with it as if it was just yesterday.

'How many do you need?'

'Just two'

Thanks to Argent, Jarek now had a huge supply of stick grenades modeled after the German steiffhandgrenade, also known as the 'potato masher' grenade. It had a stick and some explosives at the end of it. The extra length allowed the explosive to be thrown much farther. The White Lighting used remnant built grenades as opposed to the German built that came with him, as they were precious for research for Argent. Jarek quickly figured out what Yankel was up to and got a grenade from his belt and handed to him.

'I'll throw some smoke to give you some cover. Move around the courtyard to avoid fire. Do you know what you're doing?'

'I think so.'

'Okay.' Jarek said. 'I'll throw a smoke grenade; it will last about 30 seconds. When I give the signal, do what you're going to do.' Jarek then grabbed out one of his new smoke grenades, pulled the pin, it was more of a cork plug really, he popped it open and threw it as quickly as possible in the sort of no-man's-land between them and the White Fang invaders who were holding their ground as best as they could. Bright crimson smoke sprayed out of the can and quite soon spread all over the courtyard in an artificial murky fog.

'Go!' Jarek shouted. Yankel did not needed to be told twice before breaking cover, only armed with two hand grenades. He bolted around the left side, circling to approaching the White Fang positions. They also had a grounded aircraft that also seemed to be providing support. As soon as he thought that he was within throwing distance, Yankel crouched down to avoid unlikely stray bullets. The partisan unscrewed the cap of the first grenade, next the second one. He held firm the first one, pulled the plug, and flung it as far as he could. The second grenade quickly followed, and Yankel laid down covering the back of his head with both of his hands. A few seconds passed, then the first grenade exploded with the roar of a sonic boom, the second grenade exploded soon afterward and the White Fang side ceased fire immediately, the grenades having landed perfectly and either killed or incapacitated the attackers.

With the fight over, Yankel decided to come in and rest where he took cover and inhaled a deep breath, his energy half expended. Jarek, being followed by Blake, finally caught up with Yankel with the former handing Yankel back his MG42 again.

'Yankel, are you crazy or stupid?' The polish freedom fighter asked rhetorically.

'A bit of both, really.'

"An interesssting method Mr. Fury, count me impresssed dessspite the recklesssnesss of it," Argent said by way of a compliment.

Ozpin cleared his throat as he rested his weight against his cane. "An impressive performance Mr. Fury, I'm glad that despite being on the fence about whether to join us you came to our aid." He said, knowing full well what Yankel had decided.

"Thanks...where do I start…?"

 **Author Abiectio's Note:** **Hello all it is I fellow author of this story Abiectio. First off I'd like to thank whoever is reading this for doing so. I would also like to address the fact that the chapter numbering seems off, that is due to an error in regards to how WoodenAuto and I have the files. Secondly, probably should have had this already but here goes; Any characters other than the OC's my friend and I have made are the sole property of their respective owners. We do not own RWBY or any forms of media we may reference in this story. Thank you all for reading and I hope you continue to enjoy. (WoodenAuto says hello.)**


	13. The Next Semester

**Chapter 12: The Next Semester**

The next several days that followed were quite unusual to say the least. At that moment, Yankel Fury became a student at Beacon Academy with everything else that was implied. He was the first Jewish huntsman-in-training as well as the second one from 'Jarek's World', a term that came to stick with everyone and anyone talking about the place Jarek's from, those who knew the truth that is. Ozpin and Goodwitch both agreed that Yankel won't be required to do the initiation under the given circumstances. The White Fang incursion WAS his initiation, a sort of 'baptism of fire' Yankel went above and beyond when nobody even considered asking him to do it.

The day after, there was a debate between those who encountered Yankel: His team placement. One idea was to put him into Team JNPR as a Vagabond much like Jarek. But that was shot down as he had no contact with them since he arrived on this world. The second idea was to give Team RWBY as a second Vagabond. That was shot down as well. It will put too much of a burden on Ms. Rose despite her growth. So it was decided that Jarek would leave his Vagabond status in Team RWBY and create a two man team with Yankel: Team GY, or 'Grey'. The name seemed appropriate because apparently they were both from the 'Grey Ranks'. But the two of them never fully explained what that was, but they implied that it some type of organization from their world. This was the first time in Beacon history that this idea was ever implemented. Everyone was going into unknown territory, except perhaps Ozpin who had been teaching for far longer than most knew.

Before the next school year started, Jarek and Blake took Yankel on a tour of both Beacon and Vale while Argent started work on Yankel's 'Buzzsaw' a name that also stuck to the smith. It seemed to everyone that Yankel had a marginally better time than Jarek had when he arrived in Remnant. Perhaps it was a comfort to have a fellow countryman with him. When they arrived at the New Vale Emporium, Yankel selected a radically different outfit than what Jarek picked. It consisted of a black T-Shirt, light blue jeans with knee pads and boots that were much more fitting than the boots he stole from the unknown Nazi. But he retained the wool overcoat which the Beacon staff had arranged for it to be modified to better fit Mr. Fury, being dyed to a more light khaki and reworked and designed to be cool in the summer, and warm in the winter, the ultimate outer coat.

Like Jarek, Yankel also had some ideas on what his attire should be like. Thanks to Jarek's collection of war loot, Yankel was able to pick from a wealth of gear. Instead of Puttees, the Jewish boy simply decided to wrap his ankles and pant cuffs with cloth wrappings of sorts. This was simply to keep any of this pants from snagging on anything.

While this was going on, Argent was modifying the MG42. He noticed that Yankel was having slight difficulty wielding it because he was holding it by the hip rather than the shoulder. So to alleviate this, he shortened the barrel length and replaced much of the steel alloys with metal alloys from Remnant which were much stronger and lighter than the originals. He also shaved down the stock to save further weight and Yankel said that he was better off without it so, Argent just recycled it. On top of that he gave it a short ranged telescopic sight with a wide field of view. The snake Faunus figured that Yankel was going to spray and pray anyway but it wouldn't hurt to know where his bullets were going.

Among additional modifications, Argent also made the Buzzsaw a transforming weapon like most weapons that Huntsman were equipped with. He added a melee weapon mode to the Buzzsaw, something know as a partisan blade. A sort of a short pike with a wide spear-like blade that had two smaller blades winged on either side. It was all one piece which gave it added strength. Jarek would have to have Yankel train with it until he was proficient enough to handle it on his own. He would train him to use the spear like a rifle fixed with a bayonet. It was a simple enough concept to translate

By the time the next school year started, Yankel was ready for the new term. All there was now were two things. Jarek's going to have to explain he's no longer on team RWBY to Ruby. She will despair a little but he will assure her that he would see her and the rest of the team just as much, along with the new student and that he was now part of a two man team to anyone else who bothered to ask. The start of the year came quickly and so it was early that day when the students who had gone home would return that Jarek, Blake, and Yankel waited at the main entrance to Beacon. They waited as the flood of students passed them, and one by one they met with familiar faces and Yankel was introduced. But they had yet to meet the rest of Team RWBY. So Yankel had an interesting conversation with Jarek in front of Blake.

'So these White Fang we fought earlier, who are they exactly?' Yankel asked the both of them. Jarek translated this to Blake who at this point, knew at least a little bit of Polish, but only enough to be dangerous, as she maintained.

'There pretty much, in simple terms Faunus Nazis' The White Lightning explained.

'So they still march like they have a stick up their ass?' Yankel gave a smile at his suggestion. They both cringed.

'More or less.' They then burst into laughter leaving Blake in the dark, but when Blake gave both of them a dirty look, the laughter subsided.

'Do they still wave their arms like they are trying to disperse flatulence?' Yankel asked again.

'I wish.' Then they laughed a little more after that.

"I'm not entirely sure what it is you're both saying, but why do I have the feeling you aren't being completely serious?" Blake said, smirking softly as their laughter became infectious.

"No we're not being serious at all." Jarek assured Blake in English. "Just poking some fun to let the time fly." He deliberately skirted the truth about who they're making fun of the whole time, as she wouldn't think that he and Yankel have a bad taste of jokes.

"Hey guys!" the unmistakable voice of Ruby called out quickly followed by a blur of red as the hyperactive team leader zoomed up to them.

"Oh hey, Ruby!" Jarek exclaimed. "It's good to see you after the summer break. Where's everyone else?"

"Yang should be here in a minute, I ran ahead and Weiss should be showing up soon as well." Ruby said before turning to look at the odd man out. "Who's he Jarek, and why does he have an armband like yours?" She asked, cocking her head.

Jarek and Yankel gave each other quick glances before turning back to Ruby.

"Ruby, I would like to introduce to you, Yankel Fury. And before you ask, yes is the answer. He's from my world. In fact, he's from the same place I'm from. He showed up here a few weeks ago and he helped us with a little White Fang intrusion in the school, and Ozpin and Goodwitch gave him the offer to join Beacon. Needless to say, he accepted. Yankel is also going to be part of a two man team we created called team 'GY' or 'Grey'."

"Nice...to...meet...you" Yankel said in heavily accented English.

"Wait, does this mean you won't be a part of team RWBY anymore?" Ruby asked, looking sad at the prospect. Jarek grinned slightly to try to cheer her up.

"Yes, but don't worry. You won't be seeing me any less. It's just a bureaucratic change. So until if and when Team GY becomes full strength, if ever, we'll be tagging along with you guys. So in practice, we'll be still a team. Just an added member is all."

"Hey guys, good to see you all!" Came the voice of Yang who was being followed by a red-faced Weiss.

"Don't you just hello them after what you did you brute!" Weiss snapped back, clearly flustered.

"Yaaaang! What did you do to Weiss?" Ruby demanded, acting as team leader.

"Oh nothing. She had some food on the corner of her mouth and I helped her clean it off," Yang said with an easy smile before laughing at the expressions present on the assembled group's faces.

"Yang, did….did you kiss Weiss? In public?" Blake asked slowly, mortified, not because Yang kissed Weiss, but at imagining the multitude of ways in which Weiss will violently and bloodily murder Yang.

"Sure did, I think it was her first too," Yang said before waggling her eyebrows in a suggestive and teasing manner at Weiss who at that point was redder than Ruby's cloak.

"Ooookay, moving on from Yang's obvious complete comfort in her own self, I'd like you both to meet my countryman, Yankel Fury," Jarek said, trying to turn the conversation.

Yankel was initially confused at what was happening but understood enough English and more importantly body language and tones of voice to get a vague idea what had happened.

"Hello…Nice to of meet you all." He said quietly with a smile.

"Nice to meet you too Yankel, I'm Yang," the blonde brawler of team RWBY said, smiling in a friendly manner.

"It is nice to make your acquaintance," Weiss said, wearing a neutral expression. Yankel then unexpectedly put out his hand in a gesture of a handshake, the heiress was a little surprised but gently shook it.

"It's always good to make new friends." Yankel said in a quiet soft spoken tone.

"Well now that we have all been introduced, I think it is time to head inside," Jarek said, pointing towards the door. But as they all turned around, Yankel was directly behind the rest of Team RWBY. And the girls got a full view of Yankel's outer wool coat. It wouldn't have been unusual if it didn't have a strange light blue six pointed star with an 'Anchor' in the center of it just like Jarek, but on the top was some kind of language that they didn't understand that looked like some kind of gibberish.

Ruby's thoughts trended along the line of wondering what the gibberish meant since she assumed it meant something to Yankel.

Yang saw the symbols and the gibberish and figured that if they weren't particularly important to Yankel, they at least looked good.

Weiss pondered the symbols, unable to make heads or tails of the strange language, she figured the star in the center meant something important, perhaps a symbol from home.

Together they made their way into the main hall and decided to wait and hear Ozpin's usual speech given to first years.

Blake of course already knew what it meant, having had it explained to her before by Yankel. The star was the symbol of his religion, Judaism and the 'gibberish' was Hebrew, a language from his world, that read, "Never Again."


	14. A Texan Trapped in Mountain Glenn

**Chapter 13: A Texan Trapped in Mountain Glenn**

Staff Sergeant Daniel Reed, better known by the name of 'Tex' of the 2nd Rangers Battalion of the United States Army had no idea what really hit him, as he barricaded himself behind a slab of concrete against a whole squad with a lot of angry Krauts shooting at him. He was so stupid, just too damn stupid to run into that damn portal chasing 'em without waiting for backup. He didn't really know what exactly happened. But last thing he remembered he was investigating some stupid base or something and found a whole hornet's nest of Nazis with all new gear and stuff, and they killed all of his friends. All of them were with him right from Pointe du Hoc up until the Nazi's had gunned them down before escaping through some big fancy glowing thing, all from a bunker deep underground. But now he found himself in a foggy city with literally no life to it at all, or at least it seemed that way until the Nazi's had started shooting at him

But as the firefight continued, the Nazis suddenly retreated back into the fog for no readily apparent reason. Deciding not to look a gift horse in the mouth, the tired Ranger was finally able to take stock of his situation. After a brief look around himself he found that he's certainly somewhere above ground, and nothing looked familiar. _'This shit is getting pretty creepy.'_ He thought to himself as he ventured out but he quickly discovered that he's not really alone when he heard a strange howling noise echoing through this seeming abandoned metropolis. Cautiously venturing on, he was surprised to discover his olive green duffle bag. He quietly opened it and sure enough all of his personal possessions are here. It should have been back in base but he dismissed the oddity of it, wasn't the craziest thing to happen today.

Then soon enough his 'neighbors' made their appearance. It was a black and foul creature that looked like a wolf standing two legs rather than the usual four he's accustomed to. Reacting on instinct, he shouldered his weapon, a quick eight rounds from his M1 Garand in the head seeming to be enough. Once that was done he retreated to the nearest building and went as high as he could before there were no more stairs and he stood on the roof. Thankfully, there was a door that separated him from the creatures outside that for whatever reason wanted to kill him. Oh well, he told himself, it was just like the Alamo all over again.

Jarek Gniewek had finally gotten the ancient and now apparently archaic radio working again, even though it uses vacuum tubes and other miscellanea that he doesn't care much about other than it does not have 'silicon chips' or whatever the hell all the scrolls use. Ultimately, on this Saturday, without much else to do other than prepare for the tournament coming up later in the semester it proved an interesting distraction at least. The only thing he hears is all the detectable radio traffic from all the relays in Remnant. All that could be detected of course was audio which he didn't really care much about, but just an off chance that some other folks are out there like he or Yankel who might have access to a radio…. _There!_

Out of nowhere he gets a strange signal...one familiar to his world and not to Remnant. He could have only tell because of the frequency used on his world's radios and relays. The signal was at first static and fuzzy, but then soon a voice emerged from the void of static.

" _Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! This is Sergeant Reed of 2nd Rangers Battalion calling on all friendly forces anywhere. If you are hearing this please respond….I'm low on food and ammo and I require immediate extraction. I'm under siege by_ _monsters...I don't know how much longer I can hold out...This message will repeat…"_

"Yes hello I read you. This is White Lightning, I'm a friend… Can you tell me where you are?" Jarek asked the one on the radio. It took a few seconds for the voice on the other side to register and the voice came back humming.

" _Well holy shit! Someone finally picked up thank God. So who the hell are you? Are you Polish or something?"_ The Voice asked back.

"Yes, I am Polish. From your accent I'd guess you're American?" Jarek asked.

" _As apple pie! Tell me, am I in Poland or some shit, behind Soviet lines or something? 'Cause I ain't in no underground base. Plus why the hell is the moon's fucked up?'_ The Voice demanded.

"Well I don't know if you will believe me when I tell you that you are in a different world, you are, that you are, what is it you Americans say, 'not in Kansas anymore?'" Jarek said, trying to make light.

The other voiced laughed harshly at the term.

" _Holy Shit! You've seen Wizard of Oz then? I didn't even know that's shown in Polak country these days. At this point, though, I can believe anything. So, White Lightning, how can you prove to me that you are who you say you are. 'Cause I mean you could be a Nazi or something tryin' to fool me."_

"Would a Hitlerite help an American?" Jarek defended. The Voice waited for a few seconds before delivering his answer.

" _Ya got yourself a point, White Lightning. How 'bout this. I'm going to holler out 'Alamo' and you shout back with 'Houston' when you and your boys show up. Can you remember that?"_

"Sign is 'Alamo' and countersign is 'Houston' okay got it, we'll see you soon." Jarek said in confirmation.

" _Good, you should find where I am just fine. I can see a sign that said 'Mountain Glenn' or some shit like that. And in the ruins I'm in is under siege by monsters and I have the Stars and Stripes above but it's upside down."_ On the other side, the growl of a Beowulf could be heard followed by the pumping of a shotgun. _"Sorry, gotta go, White, them monsters are gonna attack now."_ The radio came back and returned to static but not before Jarek could have sworn he heard a yelled, 'Yeehaw!' Jarek of course knew what he had to do. He found Yankel who was cleaning his Buzzsaw, at the other side of their room they shared since Yankel moved in.

'Yankel, there's an American trapped in Mount Glenn. We're going to go help him. Get your shit together!'

'Got it' Yankel then reassembled the '42, and they both rushed out and headed for Ozpin's office.

Jarek almost literally stormed into the Professor's office.

"Professor Ozpin!" He shouted panting after a short run but only just.

"What seems to be the matter Mr. Gniewek?" Ozpin asks, calmly sipping from his mug.

"...There's an American soldier trapped in Mountain Glenn and needs help. He's under siege by Grimm." Jarek explained almost as if Ozpin was supposed to understand what an American was. It would have been too much of a waste of breath to say: 'Someone from my world is here!' or something like that.

"American is not a familiar term but I shall assume it is someone from your world by the way you say it, as for where he is trapped, Mountain Glenn is a highly dangerous place and I am afraid I can not authorize you to go there," Ozpin said, sipping his coffee again.

"What!?" Jarek said in surprise. "Why not? I promised him that I'd send help within the hour."

Ozpin held up a hand, silencing further outcry as he sipped his coffee before setting down his mug and lacing his fingers in front of him. "I cannot authorize you and Mr. Fury alone, which is why I shall be sending a senior Huntsman with you, I believe you have already met a those he calls his team, your new found friend, our resident weaponmaster for example." Ozpin said, his explanation also revealing that whoever was being sent with them was part of the same team as Argent. This became a massive relief for Jarek.

"Who is this 'Senior Huntsman'?" Jarek asked curiously.

"Gold. My name is Gold." Said a new voice as a man now suddenly sat upon the sill of the open window, his cloak flapping softly in the breeze. "As I said, my name is Gold, you have already met all of my teammates, Argent, Adam, and Sinéad. I have been assigned to keep an eye on you two, shall we get going?" The man, now identified as Gold asks Jarek.

"Yeah...Time is not on our side."

And so the three headed out to Mountain Glenn, literally armed to the teeth. They quickly reached the area of Mountain Glenn thanks to a Bullhead and a thoroughly insane pilot. After that, it was only a simple matter of following the sounds of gunfire and roaring grim until they saw the building the American had mentioned, the American flag flying upside down.

"Too hot to set down, landing strategies," was all Gold said before he pulled out his scythe and jumped from the Bullhead, holding his scythe in a way that he fell spinning like a buzz saw, his landing splitting a King Taijitu completely in half. After coming to his feet he switched his scythe to his back and drew his sword before looking up at the Bullhead. "Well? Come on!" He called before turning to the fray.

Jarek and Yankel dropped down and hit the ground running and found themselves in a combat zone. It reminded Yankel all too much of the ruins of Warsaw, and how much it reminded him of all the death and desperation embedded into its ruins like dust in clothing. But at the same time he felt at home and immediately headed to the 'American' building, pulling Jarek along knowing that this country boy didn't know how to wage warfare in a city that effectively.

Jarek followed along as Gold cut a swath of destruction through the Grimm, switching on the fly between a pair of bladed gauntlets, his sword, his scythe, and some kind of assault carbine. Gold continued to keep the Grimm occupied so as to provide time for Jarek and Yankel to locate the American.

Yankel and Jarek moved upstairs in the ruined concrete and steel building of a kind that Jarek had never really had seen before his arrival into this strange world. They both moved up in a big hurry, checking rooms as fast as possible. Until they ran into a door where they could hear a shotgun being fired. Jarek bashed it in, and he found himself being stared at by the business end of a M1911A1 Handgun. The person holding it was wearing an olive green American uniform and the classic GI helmet and had a rank of Sergeant on his arm sleeves.

"Alamo." The war weary soldier said.

"Houston." Jarek replied.

The man lowered his pistol and smiled with a small tear of relief flowing from his eye.

"Thank God you're here, White."

"Glad you are still kicking American," Jarek said with a smile.

"Call me 'Tex'. It saves energy. C'mon. Just give me a minute to get my stuff." All it took for Tex to 'pack up' was simply going onto the other side of the abandoned floor of the strange building. He then retrieved his tattered American flag and neatly folded it as best as he could and getting a huge duffle bag and slinging it on his shoulder like it was a paperweight.

"By the way. Where the hell are we, White?"

"We're in a place called Remnant and just call me 'Jarek'. It saves energy too."

"Save the introductions." Gold said, appearing beside them, having mopped up the Grimm outside. Turning to Tex he bowed his head slightly in greeting. "Welcome to Remnant, if you have anything to declare do so now." The large man said in an attempt at humor. Tex decided to play along with the humor as well. Hell, Lincoln mentioned that he couldn't stand being President if he couldn't laugh. Too bad he was a Yankee.

"Well. Let's see here...I got my Garand, Trench Sweeper, and my trusty Forty Five…" He mentioned showing Gold the pistol.

Gold nodded before his head swiveled towards the window seemingly without cause until the rest of them heard a loud whining noise as they saw the Bullhead they had arrived in suddenly start to plummet. After the vehicle hit with a thunderous crash, Gold turned to look at the two students and the new arrival. "Well then, we're walking back," Gold said, seemingly to just dismiss the loss of both craft and most probably the pilot out of hand.

"We better go on a detour. That pilot of yours needs help. I know ya'll came here for me. But so did he! We better go save his ass." Tex mentioned.

"Inconsequential. He knew the risks when he volunteered to fly us into Mountain Glenn. My mission is to get you three back in one piece, not to take unnecessary risks for someone who is more than likely dead." Gold responded, dismissing the idea.

"Then we'll bring back a corpse." Tex said. "Dead or alive he should return home. Where I come from, we don't leave any man behind."

"I have to agree." Jarek mentioned. "I'm sick when I see any friends dying like that. Besides, he didn't crash that far from here. Just a quarter mile at most. We could at the very least make a quick check of the wreckage."

Gold seemed to ponder this for a moment. "If we do go, you all need to promise me if I say pull out, you fall back, corpse or no, understand? Fail to do so I will shoot you myself and carry you back across my shoulders, are we clear?" Gold said, his eyes, colored like his name sending a piercing stare at all three of them.

"Sir yes sir." Tex replied.

"Definitely." Yankel mentioned.

"Alright," Jarek mentioned with a chill going through his veins. "Let's go and save a pilot."

The four of them made their way through the street in the direction of the crash site with Gold leading the way. The streets seemed to be deserted in regards to Grimm Probably because the Grimm were attracted to a new source of prey, more vulnerable prey. It became clear to all of them that the pilot that took them here is somehow still alive, as is made evident by the sounds of gunfire echoing off the buildings.

"So he is alive," Gold mused as they moved forward. "Truth be told, I was hoping he was dead, would have made this all so much easier." He said softly. Thankfully for Gold, the three failed to hear them.

"Alright. Let's get him out of here." Tex then dropped his duffle bag, got out his M1895 Trench Sweeper and attach a bayonet to it before loading the few remaining shells he had left. He then took point with a loud whoop and the whole battle between humanity and the Grimm was fought again. Jarek started to shred everything with his submachine gun, occasionally chopping a few Ursa in half with his barrage of fire. Yankel just ripped apart everything that was moving with his Buzzsaw, not even bothering to aim. Gold danced across the space they fought, his blades flashing and spinning in a lethal dance but it was soon clear to the three from Beacon, that Tex had a very different style of fighting.

He charged an Ursa as it went on two legs to attack the human as it typically would. But Tex ducked beneath the blow and impaled the monster with his bayonet, then fired his gun. The 12 gauge round tearing through the Ursa's chest in a spray of gore. It collapsed to the ground then soon dissolved into thin air as all Grimm do.

Gold watched the newest arrival with a dispassionate and critical eye, mentally counting in his head the number of times Tex exposed himself to a potentially lethal blow and each wasted move he made.

Jarek with a less critical eye. He was somewhat impressed at his skill. He knew from reading LIFE magazine a long time ago, that soldiers don't get that instruction in boot camp. Yankel on the other hand was just trying to stay alive and rip everything that came into his sights to shreds.

As the four of them moved closer, the pilot called out in greeting, desperately trying to keep himself alive and keep the approaching Grimm back.

Gold, during his close examination of Tex and his fighting style, drew back his arm and threw his sword close enough to Tex that it cut a small piece of his hair as it impaled itself in a Beowolf that had been about to hit him from his blind spot. "Next time it will be a cut across your cheek, don't leave yourself exposed." Gold called as he calmly used his gauntlets to dispatch an Ursa that was behind him. Together the group slowly made their way to the pilot.

Tex got to the pilot and was able to rip the seat belt harness off of him to pull the injured man out of the cockpit. He then carried him firemen style and out of the wreckage.

"C'mon, guys. Let's get the hell out of here!" Even though he didn't knew exactly where these strangers were taking him to. However, it was certainly preferable to this ruined city full of monsters.

Gold nodded and tapped something at his waist and above them could be heard a soft whirring as four ropes with loops at the end dropped down from a large aircraft that appeared through the clouds out of nowhere. "Grab a rope and hold on," Gold told them as he grabbed the nearest rope.

The four of them grabbed on and with another tap of the device at his waist, the ropes jerked and began to retract themselves, pulling the group up and into the ship. As soon as they were aboard the ship started moving away from the ruined city and back towards Vale and Beacon.

As the group looked around, Gold disappeared up a ladder and could be heard talking to someone before he quickly returned, this time with another person.

"Greetings everyone, hello again to you Jarek," Sinéad said with a soft smile.

"Good to see you again too Sinéad," Jarek responded. "But where are we? What is this ship?" He asked, looking around, noticing what looked like four high tech motorcycles in one corner.

"This Mr. Gniewek, is the true home of Team SAGA. Welcome aboard the Skyship _Oum._ " Gold said with a broad, sweeping gesture.

 **Abiectio's Note:** **Hey all, it's Abiectio again. I'd like to address a part of the previous chapter, "The Next Semester." In the scene where Yang gave Weiss a hello kiss, it was not intended as a sign of romantic feelings. I see Yang as someone fully confident in themselves and I view that seen as Yang simply finding yet another way to mess with Weiss. Again, it was not out of any romantic feelings or anything of the same nature, it was just meant to tease and embarrass Weiss.**


	15. All American

**Chapter 14: All American**

The _Oum_ took the three other worlders back to Beacon, their mission accomplished. Tex at this point was a little speechless when it came to all of the ships he'd seen in his short time here. But nonetheless, after introducing himself to everyone he hadn't yet met, he started to finally make sense of his surroundings.

"Gee. Is it just me or am I in fantasy land? Oh wait that's right, I am." Tex said to himself out oud in a therapeutic attempt to get a hold of himself. "These planes ain't nothing like at home. But they sure as hell beat a C-47!"

Sinéad chuckled softly at that remark. After their arrival she has seen the pilot to the med bay before guiding the remaining trio to a sort of lounge type area, obviously included if anyone other than team SAGA happened to be aboard. "So tell me Jarek, who are these new faces with you?" She asked with that same, almost motherly smile.

"Sinead, I'd like to introduce you to Yankel Fury, a veteran of the Warsaw Uprising and the attack on the Ghetto. As for the green guy…"

"Dan Reed. Pleasure to meet you. But please call me 'Tex'" The young man spoke with a clear accent. Nothing like what she previously encountered with Jarek, perhaps from a different kingdom of the world they all left behind.

Sinéad smiled that same smile. "A pleasure to meet all of you, my full name is Sinéad Collins and my husband you have already met Jarek, is Argent Graur. Gold or as we call him, 'Grell' may seem unfeeling, but he is just hyper focused." She said in introduction.

Before Tex could respond, the _Oum_ landed at Beacon's landing dock and as the three step down onto the ground, they were greeted by Ms. Goodwitch herself.

"Hello Glynda, always a pleasure," Sinéad said with a smile of greeting.

"Ah Sinéad, my favorite former student, I didn't know you were back," Ms. Goodwitch answered with a genuinely warm smile, a rarity.

"Yes, well we have a wounded pilot aboard who needs to be taken to med bay so unfortunately, no time to catch up," the woman with flame red hair said, going to fetch him as Goodwitch turned to the three otherworlders. "Welcome back Mr. Gniewek, Mr. Fury, your new friend is to go meet with Prof. Ozpin immediately," she said before turning to help Sinéad with the pilot.

"Oh and Mr. Gniewek, I want you and your teammate to escort our new arrival to Ozpin's office." Glynda called back to them.

"Okay, Tex." Jarek said turning to Reed. "I'm going to take you to the headmaster. He's anxious to see you."

"Why me?" Tex asked before relenting. "Alright, lead the way."

Jarek, Yankel, and Tex marched their way to Ozpin's office which constituted the very top level of the school. It was so high up there, that the only way to get there was by elevator. The reason this was notable was because it took at least a good 5 minutes to get there as someone pushed all of the buttons as they got on.

"So what's the latest news from back home?" Yankel asked, having been quiet all this time.

"Don't you know? Hitler's dead." The soldier replied back as if it was the most beautiful thing that could be said in the English language. The two words made both Jarek and Yankel flinch in disbelief.

"Hitler…" Jarek started.

"Hitler's dead...as in kaput, tot, dead. No longer in residence. The fucker shot himself in the head in his bunker like the paper hanger he is." Tex explained proudly. This resulted in silent cheering among the Poles. At last the monster was destroyed. The man who they both hate so much was no more. "But I hate to break it to you boys. I have some bad news too…"

"And what's that?" Jarek asked buzz killed.

"There're Krauts in Remnant. The Nazis are here. At least a few."

"But how!?" Jarek said this time in a suddenly negative state of disbelief. Nazis...here? The idea was unthinkable emotionally, but it made sense, sickeningly enough.

But as Jarek was left thinking about this, the elevator stopped and they were at Ozpin's office.

The trio walked up to the door and went to knock, when Ozpin's voice told them to come in.

"I'll tell you later, Jarek. Promise." Tex said as he pushed the door open and the trio walked in.

As Jarek and Yankel left, Tex turned to Ozpin. "So you're the head honcho here, huh?" He asked in a friendly manner.

"I am indeed the 'head honcho' as you put it, Mr. Reed." Ozpin answered, taking a sip from his mug.

The young soldier's widened his eyes in amazement. How did this guy know his name? Magic perhaps? At this point, though, he will just about believe anything but part of him knew that probably a message had been sent ahead.

"Scroll technology is a wonderful invention, Mr. Grell thought it prudent to inform me of your name Mr. Reed," Ozpin said with a chuckle. Tex made a slight laugh in return.

"Well, after fightin' those demons. I'm not completely surprised." Tex answered, trying to stay just a little sane by accepting the strange and odd.

Ozpin smiled and gestured for the young man to sit. "Please, have a seat, this shouldn't take too long," he said, sipping from his mug again.

"Thank ya kindly." Tex said, taking a seat on the chair and took off his battered and scraped washing bowl helmet.

"So, Mr. Reed, can you tell me how it is you ended up in our world?" Ozpin asked, steepling his fingers. Tex scratched his chin at the question. Wondering where to start. Then after a good twenty seconds of thinking he finally responded.

"Let's see here...It quite a long story. But what did Jarek and Yankel tell you? About the war I mean? It will make things a lot simpler and include less reiteratin' if yah tell me what yah already know…"

"I have heard that your world is embroiled in conflict on a global scale, I have also heard that both Mr. Gniewek and Mr. Fury come from the same country, a country I assume you do not come from, a supposition based purely on your accent," Ozpin said.

"That's correct. I'll explain most of the guff later. But the short version, all of the major countries and few of the smaller ones got dragged into the war. My country, along with our allies pushed those Germans right across their homeland. Their Reich is essentially gone. My Ranger company was ordered to investigate some strange base belonging to the Germans who, according to intelligence, were interested in surrendering to us, as opposed to doing the same thing with the Russians. But when we got there in the Bavarian Mountains, the heartland of our enemies, we came across a whole base full of those bastards with strange weapons that I've never seen before, looked something straight out of Flash Gordon. Along with uniforms that are brand spankin' new, armor and such. That ain't right. Germany is on her last legs and clothing is worth more than gold, armor even more so. But then once we snuck into their base, we found out they were evacuating into this strange portal with a machine a bit at a time."

"I see. You say these Nazis escaped into our world and you followed through, why did none of the rest of your company come with you?" Ozpin asked Tex.

"They bit it! We didn't stand a chance against them. We got all wiped out. I was changing cover to cover with my squad, my closest pals, when a grenade showed up at the wrong place at the wrong time…" Tex broke off, unwilling to finish recounting what happened to his friends.

"My condolences Mr. Reed. Now can you tell me how you ended up in Mountain Glenn?"

"When I notice all my pals got it. I got in a real frenzy. So as they were powering up the portal again, I charged in like a madman, bayonet and all. I think they were just surprised that a crazy American would do that. But when I went through it, there was a sudden flash came and it seemed to me that I fell into a void. Then I landed in a ruined city. As soon as I found myself on solid ground, the Nazis were there too so I resumed my fight with them, but they retreated into some tunnels. It wasn't like 'we're gonna die if we don't run' sort of retreating more the 'we have more important things to do' kind of retreating. I guess they just weren't interested in me."

"I take it shortly after is when you managed to signal Mr. Gniewek for help?" Ozpin asked, again sipping from his mug.

"After holding out for about three days judging by this world's day and night cycle, yes. After I broke contact with the Krauts, I found a good ruin to hold out in and I managed to get a radio working and the rest you know."

"I think I get the picture Mr. Reed. Now another matter, Gold told me he gave an order to abandon the pilot whose Bullhead went down, but you spoke up and refused to leave, putting both yourself and the others at risk, why?" Ozpin asked, one eyebrow arched.

"Remember my squad that bit it?" Ozpin nodded in recognition. "It's 'cause of them. A medical student from a rich family who attended Harvard who dropped out to serve his country. A farm boy from Mississippi who's never been away from home before. A thirty something father that got dragged into this mess. A naive fifteen year old kid who illegally enlisted like I did so he could have some fun. When we all met up, I promised them as their leader that I would get all them home in one piece. And with that stupid grenade, I failed to keep my promise. That's been bothering me in the back of my mind since I came to this world. I'll cut all the military bullshit about 'not leaving' a man behind, I saved that pilot because I felt guilty. I was trying to redo an error that I can never correct. If anyone was going to pay for my failures, it would be me."

"Interesting. Huntsmen and Huntress teams are made of four people, sometimes a fifth if an individual known as a vagabond joins them, the vagabond is, if it comes down to it, expendable. A team leader is expected to sacrifice the vagabond if it means the rest of the team survives. If given the order to abandon your vagabond to certain death in order to save the rest of your team, would you follow that order or would you again insist on not leaving a man behind out of guilt over your former squadmates. In this world, in any world Mr. Reed, there comes a time when such ideals as rescuing everyone and not sacrificing someone is no longer possible, and when that time comes, you need to be able to see that and move forward." Ozpin told him, leveling his gaze on Tex.

"Now that's a little different, Professor." Tex explained. "Never leave a man behind...if the situation allows it. I fought so hard to keep those ideas. But even I can understand there's cases where you have to leave someone behind. I had one too many buddies who made the ultimate sacrifices so others may live. Perhaps I was just sick of leaving behind people behind, and my guilt drove me. I know a doomed man when I see one. With the pilot? Nah, that wasn't the case. He seemed like a poor sucker that was just unlucky. That pilot was easily savable...I just...felt that he wasn't a goner after all. It would have been murder to leave him behind."

"But feelings can only take one so far Mr. Reed. The man Sinéad mentioned, her husband Argent Graur. He started at Beacon as a member of team WNDR which he led, made up of his two closest friends and his sister. Their first mission ended with all but Argent dead and his body grievously injured and his mind more so. He has only ever told his wife any of what happened that day, not even I know. He only ever said he was forced to leave them. He lost his eye because he thought he could stay and save them. He was forced to walk back to Beacon from outside the kingdom, alone, injured, and broken, he was lucky. In this world, following feelings can very likely cost you more than you are willing to pay." Ozpin said, finishing his speech he took a sip of coffee.

"Well then...I suppose I'll have to learn everything all over again…" Tex said at a loss of words. He knew it wasn't right to leave a man behind. Sometimes though, it must be done...But today, the other...more hopeful side of him was getting the better of him these days, perhaps his guilt more so. Losing his squad to a goddamn grenade was one thing. Going to a whole other world was another...The swath of contradictions were going through his mind like a thunderstorm.

"As much as I don't want to admit it...you're right, Professor." He mentioned conceding defeat for the first time since Normandy. "I suppose I still have some youth left in me, eh? But yeah, I just hate to leave a man behind, I know it isn't always possible but you bet yer ass I am gonna try my damndest. And honestly...with your Vagabonds and all. I hope I will be the one who bites it and not my friends. I think all of my pals thought the same. I hope I'm the Vagabond...and I hope that I'll be left behind."

"I see. Well Mr. Reed, if you accept the offer I am about to put forth, you shall not be a vagabond but a full member of team GRY, led by Mr. Gniewek." Ozpin said

"So that means you want me to attend this school of yours?" The grey haired professor nodded in reply. "Well...considering there's no way to get back to my world. Besides, they'll think I'm MIA, probably KIA. I will take your offer...I'm not done fightin' anyway...especially with all them Nazis in Mountain Glenn."

"I am glad to hear it Mr. Reed. Now I am going to ask Mr. Gniewek to come and guide you to our weaponmaster and have him prepare your weapons for the road ahead." Ozpin said as he called Jarek in.

"Follow me Tex," Jarek said before leading him out of Ozpin's office and leading the way to the forge, running into a very happy looking Sinéad.

"Argent, I've got a new friend with weapons for you to upgrade!" Jarek called as he walked in.

In Argent's forge stood the giant nine foot frame of Adam, one of his arms seemingly off but no visible signs of trauma as he looked up while Argent walked out of a back room holding the missing appendage. "Ah, good, I wasss jussst helping Adam with a fine motor isssue," he said as he held the arm in place with a series of slings and then played a short but complicated tune on his ever present flute, causing the metal to fluidly join again with no visible seam.

"Asss you have by now guesssed, Adam isss not entirely human," he said in explanation before nodding to Adam as the man grunted, hefted his seven foot sword before walking out, nodding to the two huntsmen in training as his surprisingly soft footsteps faded away.

"Now, what weaponsss have you brought me?" Argent asked, focusing on Jarek.

"Actually, I'll have him explain it to you." The partisan explained as the smith noticed the stranger, the third one in recent months. This time he was dressed in a sort of green uniform and a primitive steel helmet that had seen better days.

"Tex Reed. Please to meet you."

"A pleasssure to meet you Mr. Reed, asss Jarek mentioned, I am the resssident weapon massster of Beacon, Argent Graur," the smith said with a small bow. Tex was unsure how to react to the strange bow but he recognized it as some type of greeting. He decided it was best just to open out his hand in a handshake format.

Argent accepted the handshake, his grip stronger than was belied by his relatively angular frame. "Now what can I help you with?"

"Well Argent, here's what I got for you…" deciding to let his guns speak for themselves, Tex unslung his M1 Garand, Winchester 1897 Trench Gun, Colt M1911A1 handgun, standard issue bayonet that was dried with blood, the bayonet for his shotgun measuring a menacing sixteen inches. Last but not least, his notorious trench knife left over from the last war his Uncle fought in the Corp. With the blade and brass knuckles still shining after all these years and said "U.S. 1918" and the Garand had engraved in its solid wood "THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS!" After drawing each weapon he could think of, he placed it on Argent's work bench.

Argent began to look over the weapons placed before him, picking each one up and examining it, in each case laying his ear against the metal before humming softly, each time seeming to gain some knowledge or confirm something he suspected. "Well, dessspite the age of thessse, they are in remarkably good repair, ssspecifically thisss ssshotgun," he said as he picked up the trench gun, looking at it a second time.

"Yup. That's a Winchester 1897 Trench sweeper. Can destroy just about anything within ten yards. That was made in 1917. So that would be 'bout thirty years ago I reckon. Same time when my Uncle was fighting in the last war."

"Lassst war?" Argent said, cocking one eyebrow.

"Yeah. Long story..." Tex began before Argent held up his hand, silencing him.

"Irrelevant. I care not for hissstory, if you feel the need to tell a ssstory tell my colleague Ooblek, I need to know what you want me to do with thessse." Argent said, cutting him off.

"Well, I got a few ideas. First, I've seen all of ya'll strange weapons you've been carrying. Two weapons for one. Please make my rifle and shotgun transform into one. Carrying two's a hassle. Secondly, can you...somehow extend the blade of my knife to a short sword, but still switch to a knife. That'll look scary...Oh and I forgot to, make the trench knife attach to the muzzle of my rifle, like the bayonet you see there. Last thing, make my Colt stop anything dead in its tracks with one shot. Everything else is up to you, pal. By the way, please fix my helmet while yer at it."

Argent nodded and gathered up the weapons. "I ssshall sssend for you when they are completed, in the meantime, avoid fightsss." Argent said before turning and striding deeper into workshop.

"Fair enough." Tex said confident that he could follow said advice.

Leaving the workshop, Tex and Jarek made their way back to team RWBY's room where Yankel had been waiting for them. Arriving, they knocked and were greeted by a smiling Nora.

"Heya Mister Alien number 1! Who is this?" Nora said, practically shouting as she tugged both of them into the room.

"Our third team member." Jarek said chuckling. "Staff Sergeant Daniel 'Tex' Reed. He's from America. A kingdom from my world. And part of his nation's armed forces."

"Oooh, Ren, I told you! The aliens are invading! More keep coming, quick, to the anti-alien bunker!" The hyperactive ginger said, grabbing onto and shaking her hapless friend.

"Nora, we've been over this, they aren't aliens, they are dimensional travelers if anything," Ren said, sighing softly.

"So!? They're still aliens, just waiting to unzip their human suits and get us!" Nora insisted. Tex could not help himself but laugh uncontrollably at the red head's allegations. It was the funniest thing that he heard ever in his life. Not even his occasional dark humor could compete with that joke.

"That's rather hilarious." Tex croaked out, chuckling with what little energy he had. "You really believe in that nonsense?" It was something that came out of the comics he loved to read.

"Aliens exist! You three are proof!" She insisted, turning back to Tex.

"Do I look like a freaking Martian to you? This ain't War of The Worlds, else I'd be long dead by now. The bacteria would have gotten me by now if that was true."

"I can't tell for sure, turn around and let me check the back of your head for a zipper!" Nora demanded.

"How about you look for a zipper later. This 'alien' has had enough excitement for a couple of days..."

"Fine! But I'm watching you mister alien #3!" Nora said.

"Sorry for that, she's always like this," Ren apologized.

"Yeah that's fine. I don't take offense too often. Just hopin' common sense will return."

"You probably won't find any of that here, but you are welcome to search," Yankel chimed in before walking over.

"Well guys, want to help Yankel and I give Tex the tour?" Jarek asked, addressing team RWBY.

Team RWBY during all of this had been alternating between laughing and having, in the case of Weiss, horrified reactions. Yang was the first to respond as she picked herself up off the floor. "Sure, and since I know Kitty Cat over there will follow you Jarek, I guess we'll all join you," Yang said.

"I'd appreciate you not speaking for all of us, second, I did not agree to go anywhere with this….rough individual." Weiss said, gesturing at Tex.

"Rough individual?" Tex says. "Guess I can't blame you, in fact I agree with you and...Kitty Cat? What on earth do you mean? Like a cat or something?"

The way that Blake glared at Yang, dropped the temperature in the room by several degrees, leaving no one uncertain that if looks could kill, Yang would have been dead a million times over.

Yang chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her head. "Whoops. Well guess you should explain since the cat's out of the bag." Yang said, trying to get a laugh.

Blake quirked an eyebrow, implying she was not amused before she turned back to Tex and Jarek. Sighing, she reached up and tugged her bow, unraveling it and revealing her two twitching appendages.

Tex opened his eyes at what he saw in silent surprise. The girl they call 'Blake' had cat ears! The American was surprised on the brink of shock just like a bullet pierced his chest, or like a thousand everywhere in his body. He didn't say anything for he didn't know what to say. Just silence with shock etched on his face.

Jarek walked over and set his hand on Blake's shoulder, squeezing gently. "See there's this, well I guess they could be called a different species, which are identical to humans in all respects except for varied animal traits, Blake with her ears, a fellow student named Velvet with rabbit ears, and even Argent, with his voice due to tongue structure, his scales, and eyes. In this world they are persecuted as the Jews are in our world, with exception of death camps…." Jarek said before trailing off, realizing he'd said too much.

"Oh...You mean those camps? No need to elaborate, I get the idea." Tex mentioned realizing that he's trying to protect the innocence of his friends to an extent.

Jarek nods. "Anyway, Blake usually keeps her ears hidden, wanting not to be judged based on her heritage," Jarek finished.

Weiss and Yang looked at Jarek and Tex with suspicion at their quick evasion, Yang with curiosity, Ruby with puzzlement, and Weiss with suspicion.

"Jarek, what aren't you telling us?" Weiss asked

Jarek looked at Blake and she nodded, giving her signal of approval. Then he drew a breath and started to explain.

"You see...you know about Yankel's people, the Jews?"

The room nodded, Ren and Nora having left a little after Blake revealed her ears.

"The six pointed star that Yankel has on his back is the emblem of his people. The religion of Judaism. Followers and descendants of those followers are called Jews. Two thousand years ago they had their own Kingdom called 'Israel' before they were cast out by the Roman Empire. Since then they've fled to the continent of Europe, and they've been subjected to persecution that matched that of how humanity treats the Faunus in this world. Even many of my countrymen were Anti-Semites, those who hate Jews."

Yankel turned then and shrugged off his duster before lifting the back of his shirt, revealing a truly nauseating web of scars, burns, and pock marks before covering his back once again and putting his duster back on before gesturing for Jarek to move on with his explanation.

"But the Germans...or I should say Nazis to be specific...took Anti-Semitism to an extreme They hated Jews as much the White Fang hated humans, but worse...First, they boycotted Jewish businesses...then they deprived them of their civil rights...then...they started to outright killing them in Kristallnacht in Germany." Jarek said before Yankel cut in.

"Then after the invasion of Poland, the Hitlerites herded all of us into Ghettos in cramped quarters. When they invaded the Soviet Union, they sent out death squads and massacred whole communities of Jews in one day. But the killing wasn't going fast enough for them. So they liquidated the Ghettos like the one in Warsaw...but we decided to stand up for what's right and fought back. But the monsters had better weaponry and murdered several thousands of us in a few days. I saw my whole family machine gunned to death!"

"Later, my people were taken to camps. The deaths camps...they go there to be killed by the gas. Only the black smoke was their funeral. But it wasn't just us they were after. They were after Poles, Gypsies, Jehovah's Witnesses, Homosexuals, Political prisoners. Anyone who is a threat, real or perceived. Or even simply isn't exactly like the Master Race. Even thousands of their own people. The Nazis are no better than the White Fang. They're far worse than Grimm, I dare say that. The Grimm give you the privilege of ripping you apart; a short death compared to what the Nazis do. The Hitlerites, if they felt like it, will subject you to every torture imaginable. It was beyond a nightmare! God had forsaken us. If he returns...he must ask for my forgiveness."

The room had gone silent, Yang looking down in sympathetic sorrow as Weiss did the same. Blake gently placed a hand on Yankel's shoulder. Ruby, however, sweet, innocent little Ruby, gave Yankel a hug, not saying a thing but her eyes full of tears of empathy. Yankel returned the hug and tears burst out of him like a balloon. All the memories returned to him all too quickly. He wept hard as he could. The first sign of emotions that anyone had noticed from the young man.

"Now you know why we avoided the subject," Jarek said, placing a hand on Yankel's shoulder. None of them had anything to say, there was nothing that could be said. Until Tex cleared his throat.

"I think it best if we do something else, how 'bout that tour?" Tex said, trying to change the subject.


	16. Blast From the Past

**Chapter 15: Blast From the Past**

It was several weeks later when Tex got a notification from Argent that his weapons were ready. Tex, of course, quickly hurried to Argent's workshop, eager to see the results of the smith's work. Arriving, he knocked on the door frame, since the workshop seemed not to have a door. "Argent, I got yer message," he called as he walked in

Argent turned to him as he walked in, turning the table in front of him around, revealing Tex's weaponry. "Ah, Mr. Reed, good I ssshall ssstart with your pissstol," he said, wasting no time as he picked up the Colt. "I've modified the caliber to a larger sssize to accommodate Dussst roundsss and sssince you wanted it to drop heavy targetsss, each round isss now capped with explosssive Dussst resssevoirsss." The smith said before handing the weapon back to its original owner.

"Next comesss the knife. I modified it to telessscope outwardsss into a machete like sssword blade, and hardened the guard, making it more sssuitable for blunt force ssstrikes. I alssso added a sssmall blade to the bottom for pommel ssstrikes." Argent explained as he handed the blade to Tex.

"Finally, what I'm sssure you have been mossst eager to sssee, your main weapon." Argent said before reverently picking up the shotgun, albeit seemingly longer in barrel and a tad bulkier. "In thisss form, I have modified the barrel length ssso as to accommodate more ssshellsss, now up to eight ssshellsss. In addition to thisss I crafted a ssspeedloader, it involves thessse tubesss," he said, holding up to metal tubes with a lever of some kind on them. "Each holdsss eight ssshellsss when loaded. To ussse them, you sssimply affix the corresssponding end to the tube and then presss the lever forward to quickly load all eight, ready to fire in the ssspace it would take to load two." Argent said with obvious pride.

"I alssso created a drum magazine in cassse you want that, turning the sssafety in the opposssite direction of normal function transssformsss the weapon into your rifle," Argent says, demonstrating before switching it back to the shotgun and handing it to Tex.

"I hope thessse modificationsss meet your expectationsss." The smith said, leaning against the table. For a moment, Tex just stood there, his mouth watered at the sight of his new gun. Technically, it WAS property of the US Government. But it ain't their property no more. The US Government doesn't exist here anyhow.

"Argent...It's christmas morning and nobody told me. Thanks buddy...This is beyond what I even thought you could do."

Argent smiled and nodded his head to show his thanks for the praise. "I'm glad you enjoy it, I wasss not certain my idea of ssspeadloadersss would meet with your approval," Argent said, revealing the only thing he'd been uncertain of.

"Speadloaders? You should call 'em 'Lifesavers!'" He chuckled at his own comment.

Argent smiled and nodded once more. "May they ssserve you well, good luck to you in your future career asss a Huntsssman." He said before turning and disappearing deeper into his workshop, quickly followed by a soft tune.

At that moment, Tex got a buzz from his olive steel colored scroll and got a text from Jarek to report to Ozpin's office immediately for something and they were to bring their weapons. He took his weapons, slung them across his shoulder, and made his way all the way to the top floor where the rest of Team RWBY, JNPR, and the new GRY team was there awaiting their last team member.

"What did I miss?" Tex asked on the fly, now wearing his brand new outfit. His GI uniform was torn to shreds by the Grimm and he exchanged it for an OD jacket and cargo pants with hiking shoes and leggings that were still intact. To top it off he put his rank of staff sergeant on his shoulder sleeves on one side and the flag of Texas on the other. He also now wears a green Stetson reminiscent of the Wild West. He now looked like the Texan he truly is.

"Not much," Jarek replied. "The Professor just started the briefing."

Ozpin cleared his throat to bring their attention back to him. "As I had begun to say, we recently have been getting reports of a lab of some kind, turning out various Dust compounds with effects ranging from if it ingested leads to increased aggression to highly flammable and adhesive, I could go on but really, what I need is for you all to go there and stop this while also, if possible, bring back the one responsible for this." Ozpin told them before taking a sip from his coffee mug.

"One more thing, as far as we know, it is guarded by multiple members of the criminal element," Ozpin told them as they began to file out.

Team RWBY, JNPR, and GRY turned to look at one another, a vague feeling of unease settling over them at that information before they all walked out.

They left Ozpin's room and went to the hangar where they were eventually taken by Bullhead to the location of the Dust lab. There they landed a good half mile to stay in cover and not alert any of the White Fang, who Tex increasing called 'Woof,' using it as a noun. They moved around the location and found a good vantage point where they saw all of the White Fang guards out in the open with no regard to conceal themselves.

"They obviously didn't expect to be found out here, any ideas on how we approach this?" Jaune said, asking the rest of them for input.

"Arc, I say RWBY moves to the left, you and JNPR goes to the right flank. My team should go down the center and we all attack from three sides. They'll be unable to react. Then we sweep the whole building from ground level and work our way up. We'll find that scientist and get out before they know what hit 'em. What do you say, Jarek?"

"Makes sense to me Tex, between the three of us, we do have the weapons necessary for a frontal assault, any objections?" Jarek asks as he turns to the others, not expecting and not receiving any objections. "Alright, RWBY, JNPR, move into place, begin the attack when you see the signal." Jarek said.

"Uhhh, what's the signal?" Jaune asked, cocking his head.

"When you hear the first shot and sounds of freedom," Tex said, readying his Garand.

The rest of the teams chuckled before moving themselves into position, waiting for whatever Tex had in mind. The wait was a short one, very quickly a whoop sounded as Tex fired into the air, the dust making a very noticeable red, white, and blue, coloring as GRY charged forward, quickly joined on both sides by RWBY and JNPR.

The White Fang immediately opened fired as GRY was in positioned and an intense gun battle ensued. GRY changing cover as RWBY and JNPR were moving from both sides out flanking the attackers, keeping them from focusing all their fire on GRY. With the overwhelming combination of diverse firepower, the Huntsman-In-Training made short work of the White Fang thugs. Soon they were able to move up and entered the nondescript building that looked no different than any other building in Vale. There it turned to close quarter fighting that the members of GRY were all too familiar with. Every room was cleared with a thorough science. Flash grenade first then move in for the kill. The cycle repeated until Tex and Yankel reached for one particular door made of steel and was locked tight and couldn't be opened by hand.

"Allow me boys," Yang said before cracking her knuckles, winding up, and punching the door inwards, sending it flying. "And don't forget to tip the door operator," she said with a grin.

"I owe you a drink, Xiao Long." Tex remarked as they moved in and discovered a whole assortment of weaponry and Dust that they've never seen before. Not even the Remnantians had seen such strange Dust potions. They all looked like regular WF weaponry but something was different about them. There stood a short figure dressed in a brand new white lab coat and had hair whiter than Weiss'.

'Ahh, _Weissblitz_ , my my my I never expected to see you again. You simply must tell me what you've been up to since our last meeting.' The man said before turning around in a language that only Jarek understood fully. "But please, where are my manners, I never introduced myself before, I am Dr. Gunther von Stein, a dubious pleasure," he said, seeming oddly welcoming.

'Wait...It's you isn't it?' Jarek said stunned switching to German as fluent as a native.

'If by "you" you mean the one from the _Rattenschatten_ in our world then indeed,' he responded.

'Okay, you swine. There's no escape this this time. You will come with me and no tricks this time or I will shoot you.'' Jarek demanded still in German as he drew his Tokarev.

'It may surprise you to learn I have no intention of resisting. I know, had you been ordered to kill me, I would have been dead already. Oh no, your superiors want something from me and I intend to find out what.' The Dr. said, smiling smugly.

During this exchange, the only words the group picked out was 'Weiss Blitz' which Weiss reacted to. "Why did you just mention my name in there?" She demanded, wanting answers.

"Actually, he's not referring to you. He's referring to me." Jarek explained while he got behind Dr. Gunther von Stein and tied his hands together with ropes, it's clear they these two had a history together.

"Okay what did I miss, what is 'Weiss' to you people?" Weiss asked, clearly confused.

"Long story short. 'Weiss' means 'White' in German. The language I just spoke. It's not Polski. Same goes with 'Schnee' which means 'Snow' in the same language. You see, the Nazis gave me a nickname: 'Weissblitz' and it means 'White Lightning' for short because I attacked where one least expects it, just like the weather condition. That, and I used to wear a scarf to cover my face with similar design patterns." Jarek explained frankly with the insistence of pronouncing the 'W' in 'Weiss' like a 'V'.

Weiss wore a look of both understanding and something akin to horror. "So you're telling me, my name is a color and of frozen water in the language of the crazy monsters who are trying to kill everyone?" Weiss asked.

The reactions of the rest of team RWBY were for the most part rather muted. Yang chuckled softly about the horror Weiss was reacting with, Ruby was just happy to know what 'Weiss' meant, and Blake was not surprised, having been told as much by Jarek.

Team JNPR had a slightly different reaction, well Nora did at any rate. Jaune, Pyrrha, and Ren had a similar reaction to Ruby, but Nora, well….

"Ren! Ren! Don't you see?! They are teaching us alien so it will be easier for them when they take us over!" Nora said, which was met with a groan from the rest of them. Jarek started to explain to Weiss about the complexities of languages from his world and those who speak them.

"It's not as simple as that, Weiss. Yes, what I said is true. But not all German speakers are Nazis. My dad used to say that 'They're always good people and bad people in any culture and in every society.' Germany isn't actually a bad place, until the Nazis seized power that is. Some Germans are not bad people. Their only problem with them was that they're too complacent with Hitler and his butchers and murderers. But it will be a long time before Germans will be redeemed as far as I'm concerned."

"Okay, that makes me feel slightly better, but shouldn't we be going?" Weiss asked them.

"Ja. Indeed we should Frau Schnee." Dr. Von Stein said before being tapped in a non-gentle manner with the barrel of Jarek's TT-33. Which reminded the partisan that at some point, he should switch to a Viz.35 sooner or later.

Weiss shuddered at this before standing as far from the Dr. as possible while Jarek nodded before grabbing the Dr. and roughly shoving him forward as they began to walk out, leaving this bizarre lab.

While the huntsmen-in-training were escorting Doctor Gunther von Stein out of his makeshift laboratory, a hawk was out on the hunt. Lieutenant Ethan Cornelius Gilliam of His Majesty's Royal Centurions, the black operatives of the British Empire, aimed his scoped Lee Enfield No. 4 at the Doctor that he was supposed to get that day. He cursed himself for not skipping work this day, having done so would have meant that he could have beaten the huntsman just before they arrived and disappeared before anyone had noticed. But he couldn't really do much about that. He was briefed before deploying into this world, that Huntsmen were very noble warriors that protected humanity from those bloody Grimm. Ethan wagered that he could stand up in a fight if he had the advantage of terrain. He knew however that if he did it would possibly invalidate his cause, and make him look like more of a criminal element. Bloody hell, he wasn't any hero by any stretch of the imagination. He's just a servant of His Majesty and the British Empire trying to do his job. A job that he had trained for for the better part of his life.

Through the scope, his heterochromic green eye noticed what looked like an American cowboy based on the hat and the Texas flag on it. Two others he couldn't identify from this distance that stood with the other, strange looking huntresses, all of them the same age as he is...wait. The one with the fedora, his armband…that symbol and color scheme... _That's the White Lighting! What's he doing here in Remnant? Wasn't he killed over a year ago?_ He didn't know much about the so called Robin Hood of Poland, but apparently he was killed in a raid against the Rattenschatten. But no trace of him or any of the resistance group he was with at the time was ever found, at least that's what was said in the memo. The blonde is obviously his client, Yang Xiao Long. He was fixing her motorcycle, Bumblebee at work earlier today, and from what she told him, that must be team RWBY, JNPR, and GRY. He didn't know why, but there was something about her that he liked but didn't know what.

They didn't seem to even notice him or even be aware of his presence. Perhaps all the training at the Centurion Academy was paying off, or they are not looking for any more trouble, likely the latter. Well the day is certainly ruined and it's a bad idea to try to attack eleven well-armed huntsman and huntresses. Better call it quits and go home for the day. The day has been wasted. There's no point being here anymore. While the Beacon huntsman-in-training teams embarked on a bullhead and Vale Police showed up to secure the scene of the shootout, Ethan quickly made his way back down to street level and disappeared within the many streets that made up Vale.

 **Abiectio's Note:** **Hey all, once again I am here to thank all of you who took the time to read this story. I would like to say both WoodenAuto and myself very much appreciate it. Feel free to leave a review and let us know what your opinion of the story is, but please, keep criticism constructive.**


	17. A Mad German Doctor

**Chapter 16: A Mad German Doctor**

The coalition of Huntsmen and Huntresses-In-Training arrived back at Beacon, the ride back having been a rather awkwardly silent one in light of their recent acquisition. Everyone detected Jarek's bottled up anger, though only Blake had any slightest idea why. When the Bullhead touched down, team RWBY disembarked first and they were followed out as Jarek gave a rather hard shove to the back of Dr. Von Stein, sending the man tumbling out of the interior. Before he could stand himself up, Jarek hauled him up and pressed his pistol into his back again as they began to walk, grinding the barrel uncomfortably against the man's vertebrae. The group made their way inside where they were quickly met by Goodwitch. "So you've returned, and who is this?" she asked, looking at the obvious prisoner.

"The reason I'm here." Jarek explained in a calm manner that belied the seething rage within as he still had the TT-33 pointed in his back pushing him right along, directly to Ozpin's office.

Glynda raised an eyebrow but followed behind, team RWBY breaking off to put their weapons in their lockers. Team GRY plus their prisoner soon arrived at Ozpin's office where Tex knocked.

"Come in," came Ozpin's voice.

Team GRY entered the office and moved to the center with the esteemed Gunther Von Stein, another awkward silence soon followed but it was soon broken by Jarek.

"We got your damn scientist, Professor." Jarek explained.

"He's a kraut mad doctor, sir. Plus it seems that our leader don't seem to happy to see him." Tex added.

"Ah Professor Ozpin...we meet at long last." The prisoner started in thickly accented English, grinning as if he was meeting the Kaiser of Imperial Germany before The Great War.

"Greetings, but I believe you have me at a disadvantage," Ozpin said, raising an eyebrow.

"Disadvantages depend on your point of view. I for one consider this a disadvantage only because I have a gun pointed in my back. I'm in the most secure place in all of Vale at this moment. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Doctor Gunther von Stein. Former head of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Exotic and Strange Phenomenon in Berlin. Though of course that means nothing to you, does it?"

Ozpin sighed and took a sip from his coffee cup. "No it does not, and what makes you believe that despite having a gun at your back you are safe here?" Ozpin asked him.

"Huntsman and Huntresses are not murderers, Herr Professor. If you wanted me dead, my soul would have been in hell hours ago. Besides, mit the Nazis schweinen, my...former...masters...running around, the rabid hounds are out to silence me, and the White Fang as well. I consider myself quite secure as of this moment."

Ozpin quirks an eyebrow before sighing. "Indeed. Pointless intimidation tactics out of the way, do you know why you're here Dr.?" Ozpin asks him.

"I have a few theories, yes. I assume it's because of my research and manufacturing with the substance you refer to as 'Dust'. You want my skill and life's work, do you not?"

Ozpin leans forward, resting his chin on his clasped hands. "Quite intelligent of you. Indeed we want your skills and knowledge, the question is of course, what will it take for you to provide this?" Ozpin said, getting to the root of the matter.

"I require only two simple things. One, guarantees for my personal safety, I am a hunted man after all. Secondly, unlimited resources to advance my research into exotic dust, weapons, and other unexplainable phenomenon."

Ozpin sat back as if to consider this for a moment. "And what guarantee do we have that you will do as we ask? How do we know you won't return to the White Fang or your Nazi overlords at the first chance?" Ozpin questioned.

"I care little for politics, Herr Professor. I only care about the advancement of my research and my own skin. Both the White Fang and Nazis are highly secretive in their nature as of late. The former distrust me like any human, they always tried to hound me like some damn mutt. Und the Nazis are the same as well in this regard. I revealed hidden secrets of the old Reich to the White Fang, that is my research, and they are not too happy about it. Und now I'm here in front of you, they'll assume that I will reveal the same secrets and they'll be after me as well. They wouldn't believe me even if I told you nothing. Therefore, I don't plan on going anywhere at the moment when everyone wants my head." The pragmatic doctor explained, ridiculously calm and matter of fact despite the gun at his back.

Ozpin cocked an eyebrow as he took another sip. "A truly tragic tale of woe, but it does answer my question. One final matter Dr. Von Stein, what kind of space will you require to work? I also intend to put you in contact with our own resident Dust expert, I'm certain you will find his…..unique abilities, fascinating." Ozpin told him, before nodding softly as a figure appeared in the doorway. "You wanted to see me Ozpin?" Gold asked.

"This is your Dust expert? Fascinating. What makes him so qualified?" Von Stein questioned, the inner scientific curiosity piqued within the man

Gold looked to Ozpin who nodded. Gold stepped forward and brought his hands forth, cupped open as if in supplication before closing his eyes as a glow started to form around his hands, increasing in intensity as a large Dust crystal began growing in his hands, stopping after a few seconds. Gold then held the crystal up for Stein to inspect.

Stein widened his eyes in curiosity, never losing his calm demeanor. "This Dust expert will be most qualified. If I teach him my compounds und skills I can advance the research by light years. I can perhaps invent new compounds that I've not yet even conceived." He said, his mind already going over various experiments as he absent-mindedly plucked the Dust crystal from Gold's hand to study it closer, pulling a pair of lenses from his pocket.

Ozpin gave a soft smile before nodding to Gold who then, with a nod to team GRY, left as suddenly as he had arrived. Ozpin then turned back to Stein and team GRY. "Now then, I believe that is all I need to know, I will have Mr. Reed and Mr. Fury escort you to your new lab, Mr. Gniewek, please stay a moment."

"What is it, Professor?" Jarek asked before Ozpin motioned for him to sit in the chair right across from him on his desk.

Ozpin took a long drink from his coffee before looking at Jarek. "I know you are not pleased with my decision Mr. Gniewek, if you have complaints, please voice them."

"Remember my story of how I came to Remnant?" Jarek mentioned referring to Ozpin's first interview of him.

Ozpin nodded, indicating for him to continue.

"Von Stein happens to be that same scientist in my story. In other words, he sent me here and in turn, murdered most of my battalion. My friends got ripped apart by Grimm in a cave thanks to him! I promised myself that if I ever found him…" He sighed in confession. "That I was going to kill him. If it weren't for him, I would still be in Poland fighting for my country."

Ozpin nodded in sympathy. "I can understand a want for revenge, but ask yourself this Jarek, if you could go back and change it all, make it so that none of this had happened, would you do it? Would you choose to remain ignorant of our world? Of Ms. Belladonna?" He asked, cocking an eyebrow, knowing he hit home with the last remark. Jarek sighed and leaned back in thought.

"I made that promise to myself before I even encountered the White Fang in the forest, but no. I wouldn't change a thing, Professor. Besides, If I killed Stein and remained in my native world. We could have dealt the Nazis a tremendous blow, but it would have only staved off the inevitable. Knowing myself, I would have participated in the Battle of Warsaw, the same fight Yankel was in. I would had sacrificed everything, thrown everything I had into the fight. And I might either be dead or...worse. I'm grateful for my new life. Regardless, old wounds still run deep. I'm still bitter about this."

Ozpin nodded before sighing. "The crux of the matter is, can bring yourself to work beside this man if the matter requires it?"

Jarek looked down onto the ground under the desk, deep in thought. Then gave out an answer. "Just give me a few days to get over it. After that, if it is for the benefit of the world. I'll do it...reluctantly."

Ozpin smiled softly. "I think that a little reluctance is fine, you're dismissed, Mr. Gniewek." Jarek left to tend to his teammates were going. As soon as he disappeared from the office, Ozpin got a notification on his scroll, this time from Qrow. He opened it up and it came with the message. 'YOU BETTER SEE THIS.'


	18. A Downed Airship

**Chapter 17: A Downed Airship**

No rest for the weary it seemed. Within a day of returning from the raid on Stein's laboratory, team GRY had been called back to Ozpin's office, where they met with Adam and another man, who was drinking from a flask when they walked in. "Ah, took you three long enough," the drinking man said, sounding slightly drunk.

Ozpin sighed and raised his hand. "Enough Qrow, these three have been busy." Ozpin said, wanting to avoid argument. "Thank you for coming."

"What is it this time professor? Did poor little Timmy fall down the well again?" Tex asked with his wisecracking that became synonymous with the American.

"We do not know anyone named Timmy, Mr. Reed," Adam said, still having occasional issues with sarcasm. Deep in his mind, Tex chuckled hard at the remark. _That's okay 'cause their ain't no Timmy anyway._

"Can it with the euphemisms, big guy here can't process the finer points of conversation." Qrow said as he put his flask away.

"Gentleman, please, I called you here to deal with something Qrow brought to my attention." He said before handing Jarek a large picture. "Does this craft look familiar?" He asked. The three looked at the photo, which seems to be a crash site of some kind. The craft...it's an airplane...four engines and it seemed reasonably intact. For a moment, Tex and Jarek thought that it was a B-24 Liberator. But there was something off about it. A Liberator doesn't have a sleek appearance as the bomber seemed to have. Definitely an allied aircraft. Then Tex realized that the aircraft was a British one and therefore could only be one thing. He soon spoke up in disbelief on top of curiosity and excitement.

"Sweet mother-of-god...That's a Lancaster…What the hell is it doing all the way out here?"

Ozpin cocked an eyebrow at Qrow who then stepped forward. "I found it on recon, what it's doing here I don't know, probably part of some mission, but what that mission is, I don't have a damn clue."

"Indeed, also, what exactly is a Lancaster?" Ozpin asked.

"More accurately that was a Lancaster. A Lancaster is a four engine British bomber. If you don't know what a 'bomber' is, it's a large aircraft that's designed to fly at a good attitude and drop bombs, high explosives on enemy positions and cities. Sometimes individually, other times _en masse._ And the sight of them rolling towards you would like to see a swarm of Nevermores coming your way. A single bomber like the Lancaster could probably level Beacon if it was carrying enough of a payload. I heard a rumor that the brits even created a bomb that could cause an earthquake."

"I see. Then I guess it is a good thing I am sending you three, Qrow, and Adam to investigate this, "Ozpin said as he took a drink from his mug.

"Shit. That's some heavy duty equipment," Qrow mused.

"Yeah it is. But there's something a little funny about this Lancaster. It's all painted green and they don't have roundels like I'm used to seeing. Plus where the hell are the machine guns? There's supposed to be a good few of 'em and they ain't there. Professor, this just screams secrecy to me."

"Perhaps Mr. Reed, all the more reason I am sending you, you leave immediately, good luck." Ozpin told them, dismissing them.

Then Team GRY, Qrow, and Adam moved to a Bullhead and immediately flew straight to the crash site in a distant forest. The trip took a good hour, finding a landing site about ten minutes, finding the crash took five. The Lancaster sat there like the sleeping lion that it was. It seemed damaged, but for the most part it was clearly recognizable. But it was clear that it had been there for a while. There were leaves and something that appeared to be mold covering it in places along with some rust.

"So this is the crash site," Yankel mentioned.

"Definitely. Let's take a look inside. But be cautious. Whoever left this probably left behind a little surprise for anyone sneaking around." Jarek ordered and the three started work on investigating the airship, searching for...something.

The three of them and the two Huntsmen spread out to comb the wreckage, searching for anything. After about five minutes Yankel called out. "Find anything?" He asked.

"We ain't found shit!" Qrow responded and it was another ten minutes before Tex called out that he'd found something.

"Guys, look what I found!" He cried out. Tex came out of the aircraft carrying a crumbled piece of cloth in his hands.

"What's the deal? It's a rag." Qrow responds, clearly not impressed.

"It ain't your everyday rag." He allowed gravity to unfold the cloth piece and it showed a strange emblem that Qrow recognized as being a flag of some kind. It showed a strange sort of emblem he had never seen before it had a red cross covering it all followed by a bunch of diagonal lines. But at the center of it had a strange and complicated emblem that seemed out of place.  
"It's a Union Jack. This is the emblem of the Great Britain." Tex explained. "Before you say anything. Long story short. Great Britain is a Kingdom and an ally of my country. We fought alongside 'em against the Krauts, the center symbol is strange though."

"Okay then, what does that mean other than confirm that whoever used this plane is from your world?" Adam asked, chiming in.

"This means whoever used the Lanc', is British. Therefore a potential friend and likely not hostile towards us at least. On top of that, Yankel mentioned there was only one seat in the whole plain. Which happens to be the pilot seat. Apart from that the whole plane's a shell, all the machine guns are stripped which means the pilot had time to get those guns or they weren't even there to begin with. Secondly, it's worth noting that the bomb bay area is fattened like a pregnant lady, big enough to carry a small vehicle. Most likely a Jeep. Next, I found some tire tracks going out from the Lanc' which means the pilot survived and left the area in the direction of Vale. Therefore, I can conclude that whoever was piloting this here aircraft isn't going to come back at all. And probably is out there somewhere." Tex reported and explained as if he was still part of the army. (Well he still technically is part of the Army. Just declared M.I.A and his twin sister got ten thousand dollars' worth of life insurance.)

Adam nodded before turning to look at Jarek. "That seems consistent with reports of a vigilante that popped up in Vale recently," he said considering something.

Qrow sighed and took a swig from his flask. "Okay then, what's our next move? Do we head back do you think Adam? If the flag is all that's here, we're probably best just moving on." He asked.

"Depends, Jarek, do you think it is best if we bring the bomber back with us?" Adam asked.

Jarek squinted at Adam, trying to discern if this was an attempt at humor.

"What do you mean 'bring the bomber back with us?' that thing weighs several tons at least. How do you suggest we drag this thing back to Beacon?" Jarek asked.

Adam turned to look back at the bomber, walking a quick circuit around it. "Can we bring it back without the wings attached?" He asked.

"May as well. I'm no airman, but it's clear to me that it ain't going to fly soon. Go ahead, can't hurt. We can find a use for it I'm sure." Tex answered

Adam nodded and unstrapped his massive sword before approaching the bomber and first lining up his sword before bringing it down with a loud sound of metal shearing as it cut cleanly through about six inches from the fuselage, then repeating the process on the other side before using several ropes he had with him to lash the wings to the body before crafting a rope to be used as a tow rope. "We'd best get moving, it's a long walk back to Beacon." Adam said, seemingly unconcerned how he'd drag it back to Beacon since there was no way to carry it in the Bullhead.

"You need help with that, Adam? It seems a little heavy for one man," Yankel mentioned.

Adam shook his head as he took one step and then another, seemingly using the same amount of force one might use to move a couch or perhaps a bed. "No need, I've got it." He said.

"Okay…"

The whole cadre made their way back to Beacon and their prized aircraft was something of a spectacle to the students back at Beacon. The Lancaster was so big, that it attracted every single student in the whole school on top of that it had to be dragged to the gardens, the most open space on the mountaintop based education facility. There, Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch were waiting for them.

"I see you couldn't help but make a spectacle could you?" Goodwitch said.

"Well, where the hell else are we going to put this damned piece of garbage? Out in the stupid forest?!" Qrow remarked stating the obvious, always functionally drunk if there ever was such a thing.

Glynda sighed and shook her head as Ozpin smiled slightly. "Anyways, what have you all discovered?" He asked them, curious.

Tex gave Ozpin the same report that he gave Qrow. This time rewording it so as if he were talking to General Eisenhower or even the late President Roosevelt. Even though he never met either, he was in mourning over the latter, every American was at least to his knowledge.

Ozpin listened intently, examining the wreckage as Argent showed up, having been notified by Adam, joining Ozpin in his inspection.

"Before Mr. Graur begins his questioning, I would like to ask a few more things. First, is there any chance whoever was here was found upon landing, killed, his vehicle stolen, and his body disposed of?"

"Professor, I think he is still alive. There's no doubt in my mind. There's no evidence that the Nazis were even there in the first place. Second, there's no sign of a struggle of any kind. If the pilot was attacked and killed there'd be some indicator, there's no sign of blood or anything. The only culprit to the speculation would be the Grimm. And Grimm bein' Grimm. They would've just ripped apart the whole plane to get the human goodies inside like a Mexican piñata. My theory goes that this guy did crash land as the engine did suffer some damage and got shot out. So probably hit by an enemy aircraft of some kind, couldn't be Grimm. Then he got all of this stuff, loaded all he could on the Jeep and flew off before the Grimm were even aware of his presence. Sir, I think whoever this guy is, he's good. Probably a lot better than us actually. In other words, this guy's escape from that forest was well executed and planned. This is all speculation. But that's what I believe." Tex responded.

Ozpin nodded. "I see, then that leads me to another question, do you think this man could be the vigilante we have been hearing of as of late in Vale?"

"We can identify the mystery man when he speaks with a funny accent that would put any SDC snob to shame." Tex said before looking over at Weiss. "No offense."

Weiss sighed as Ozpin cleared his throat. "Then we shall do our best to put you in contact with him, until then, Mr. Graur I believe has some questions for you regarding this machine." He said before gesturing for Qrow to follow him. Argent smiled in greeting but before he could speak, Tex cocked an eyebrow. "Sorry Argent, but we ain't flyboys so we can't help you," he confessed with an apologetic smile, shrugging at Argent's saddened look.

 **Abiectio's Note:** **Hey everyone Abiectio here. Thanks again for taking the time to read this story Wooden and I have written. I know you all aren't going to be happy to hear this but we have only two weeks' worth of chapters left in part 2. As such, once we complete part 2, there will be a long hiatus, hopefully not as long as our first, but because we want to create our story to the best of our abilities, it is quite possible updating won't resume until early summer 2017. We apologize but we'd rather take our time and make good content than rush and have it be shoddy. Also we are looking for an artist to make a proper cover picture for the story. If you are interested, let one of us know either at WoodenAuto or Abiectio. Thanks again everyone.**


	19. The Drive By Incident

**Chapter 18: The Drive by Incident**

Lieutenant Ethan Gilliam, under the faux identity of Robert Smythe, was working on one of his client's motorcycle at the mechanic shop he works at. Thanks to his skill as a mechanic, he was able to pay the bills and even acquire some disposable income, which was always spent on extra weapons and the substance called 'Dust,' among other expenses. He was hoping to get Von Stein so he could talk to him but since the Huntsman got him first, there was no hope for that plan. Now he was at square one on what to do next in his one man crusade against the Nazis. While he was deep in thought, he was finishing up the black and yellow motorcycle that required a tune up when the owner walked into the door and rang the bell to announce her presence.

"Hey Robby! My bike almost done?" Yang asked with a smile as she walked in.

The appearance of his client knocked him back to reality and snapped him back into the persona of Robert Smythe.

"Sure thing, Miss Xiao Long," he started in his fake Vale accent that is quite convincing as long as you're not looking for flaws. "Just a few more minutes and your bike will be as good new." He wiped his sweaty face with a dirty rag that seemed only to dirty him more.

Yang chuckled and exaggerated looking him up and down as she tilted her aviators down. "Something about you all covered in grease makes you seem even more attractive," she said with a wink. This made Ethan blush on the inside. He wasn't supposed to get into any intimate relationships until his mission is complete. But then again Central Control isn't here and it's not like they can really punish him apart from sending more packages. On the surface, though, he wasn't showing reaction at all Yang's advances and went straight to business.

"Well, anyway your bike's done. Just finished tightening her wheels. I'll get it out of the garage for you." He walked back into the garage towards the bike before starting the engine and moving it over to Yang.

"Sweet! Always said if I found a guy who could fix Bumblebee I'd make him mine. But I guess I can wait." She teased. All that Ethan could do was blush at her suggestion.

"You're free to go now, you paid the bill up front and already signed the paperwork. You're good to go." He announced giving her helmet.

Yang smiled and accepted the helmet before straddling her bike. "See ya later, thanks again Robby," she said with a smirk before gunning the engine and driving off. Ethan sighed in relief that he was able to keep another woman at arm's length. It seems that she's fully unaware of who 'Robby' really is and that better stay that way, the less she knows, the better for her. Strangely enough, he actually fancies Ms. Xiao Long, but once more duty came first. It was the end of his shift so Ethan cleaned up, clocked out, and walked back to his apartment to prepare for this evening's operation.

After a quick shower, Ethan, having fully dropped his facade, donned his battle fatigues. These fatigues were heavily customized to suite his own particular needs. The base is a undershirt along with Remnant built, lightly colored pocketed pants that were referred to as 'cargo pants' which came with the knees padded with a synthetic material which made them all the more desirable. He had started wearing it as soon as his army issued uncomfortable, wool pants had been burned up after a skirmish with a few Jerrys at Mountain Glenn. Then followed the Remnant built compact body armor vest he was told could stop anything short of a round from High Caliber Sniper Scythe (HCSS). Honestly, whatever that was, he dared not encounter a Huntsman, Huntress, or anyone else that was in possession of one. The very idea of a grim reaper's scythe mixed in with an anti-tank rifle like the Boys made him shiver slightly in apprehension.

The vest was over by an olive green heavy duty jacket which had a special padding on the right shoulder to negate recoil when pressed against a rifle. It constituted of a mixture of greens and browns and really was more suited to woodland environments rather than urban but it was better than wearing a bright redcoat that those bloody Americans had given the nickname 'lobsterbacks'. That thought made him laugh a bit on the inside.

Afterwards, he donned his black fingerless biker gloves also padded at the knuckles plus the two 'wrist watches' that transformed into a pair of compact revolver combinations that can shoot a .45 ACP round upon contact with the firing mechanism. He had already failed to remember the exact name, so he had simply dubbed them "The Royal Brawler" for the liberty of simplicity. He hadn't yet tried them out yet. However, he was adept at the art of punching among other types of close combat arts, so he was confident that they could be used effectively, but he had yet to put them to the test.

At last, he put on his webbing that he had heavily customized to suit his own personal needs. It started life as the basic Pattern 1937 Webbing, but apart from the belt and suspenders, nothing else is standard issue. He installed a canvas water backpack of sorts that came with a tube which allows him to drink in the midst of battle, nothing the likes of which had been created in his world. The Remnantians are decades or perhaps a century or two ahead. That extra space permitted him the liberty for other purposes. He had interwoven a Sten bandolier into the belt on the right side and just in front of that was the small holster for the suppressed Welrod. On the other side, carried his Webley and the 1908 style mag pouches on that same side. For some strange reason he prefers that as opposed to the newer 1937 mag pouch. But he feels that they're more compact and he'll able to lie down on his belly much easier should the need arise. Finally, at the very back of the webbing at his rump, was his small knapsack that contained the various miscellaneous assortments that might be required. After loading all the necessary ammo, he then picked his Sten Mk. II submachine gun and his non-scoped Lee Enfield No. 4 Mk I and the appropriate spiked bayonet that came along with it to bring with him for the night. He then vacated the apartment before locking it up. For a thief to search for loot in his apartment would be a death sentence, for both the thief and himself.

He concealed them with gun cases strapped to the side of his Vale-made motorcycle, disguised as storage compartments, which he had customized to be tougher than a horde of Spanish bulls.

With his other gear, Ethan left from the back door and sped out in the direction of Mountain Glenn to perform recon and possibly get into a few skirmishes with the Jerrys.

Seven minutes into his mission, it took a turn for the stranger when he was stopped at a traffic light. He obeys the local laws, there was no need to attract any more attention than he already does.

When he turned to his right, to his amazement, he saw Bumblebee, the motorcycle he repaired and her owner: Yang Xiao Long. ' _Thank God I'm wearing these shades and scarf. Or otherwise my cover would be blown!'_ He thought to himself

Yang looked over and saw someone else on a motorcycle, with a grin she revved her engine, challenging him to a little street race. Ethan nodded and as soon as the green light was on, the drag race commenced. The race went through a good chunk of Vale, with Bumblebee able to outpace his motorcycle but only just barely. After twelve minutes, right in the middle of the illegal activity, something caught Ethan's eyes which caused him to stop abruptly.

He notice five Nazi thugs, dressed in black uniforms of the sort used early in the party's history, were terrorizing a family of what seemed to be fox based Faunus.

"You filthy Faunus. Why do you infect Remnant with your stink!?" Shouted one of the thugs, possibly the leader, as he spat into their faces.

"Ja. Your filth will infect this city no longer. What should we do with them boys! Should we send the Faunus and the White Fang a message?" All Ethan could hear were grumbles of approval at the hinted suggestion. It was clear that the young family, a six year old boy and a four year old girl must have been frightened beyond their minds, to say nothing of their mother. _To bloody hell with the mission!_ Ethan thought as his blood boiled, his hatred of injustice inflamed. _I'm not going to let those bastards lay a finger on them._ His engine roared and he screeched to a stop, loud enough to get everyone's attention.

Yang grinned then looked up when she saw where he was headed, skidding to a stop as she saw him stop as well.

Ethan grabbed his Sten from its case, Welrod and Webley at hand in their holsters and approached the Nazi thugs. He pointed the Sten at them and it was enough to stop what they were doing and attract attention to him rather than the family, pushing them back enough to allow him to get in between the thugs and the family.

"What is the meaning of this?" Ethan demanded like the English gentlemen he was trained to be.

"You cannot stop the Fourth Reich, you pig. We will become stronger than you ever hope to be." One of the thugs barked like a dog, as if reciting from some propaganda pamphlet.

Ethan ignored the provocation and slung the Sten and replaced them with the Webley and Welrod as this was going to get potentially messy.

"I'm going to give you one chance. Leave now and you won't be harmed."

"Ha! As if we would take orders from any Untermenschen. HA!" They all laughed, as they weren't taking him any seriously. He had given them a chance, and now it was his duty as a Centurion to do the right thing.

"This is no place for children. I suggest that you all leave." He said to the family still behind his back. He couldn't directly make eye contact with them but he knew how terrified they were. At first they didn't move.

"To the North, quick march!" Ethan said again, and at this point, the mother, who couldn't be out of her twenties, fled with Ethan covering their escape. With the family safely at a distance, Ethan grinned defiantly.

"So chaps, are we going to stand here all day or are we going to fight?" Was Ethan's comment and the brawl was on. With their batons they pulled from their boots and belts, they charged him but Ethan countered and punched one right in the belly. Little did the thugs know, that he was carrying a glove gun that held a single .45 ACP high explosive dust round that could obliterate anything within a foot cone, the gun went off and the thug's torso exploded, essentially tearing him in half. The second guy went for him as well within a few seconds of his comrade falling, but Ethan saw him coming and dodged the blow and punched him with the second glove, earning the same result. Then after moving a few paces away from the thugs who remained few feet away, Ethan went for his Sten and sprayed the two remaining thugs with a hail of bullets, ending them. The fight had ended before it really began and thankfully, it was in a secluded and quiet place in Vale as it was late evening. With the fight over, Ethan then quickly searched through their pockets for anything useful. All there was were a few bloodied documents of little note and a handful of lien cards.

It was at that point that a whole group of twenty Nazi thugs, armed with pistols and clubs this time, came round the corner and attempted to charge him, they had probably been waiting to help the original group when they did something to the Faunus family. Ethan was quick to react to this, he brought up his STEN MK. II and made short precise bursts that hit each target, ducking behind a mailbox so as to provide himself cover from the small arms that the thugs carried. The bullets he used had been modified to be hollow point so they only hit the target he intended to kill so as not to injure or kill any bystanders or civilians, which would have been disastrous. Soon, all of the thugs were dead after one reload. With the carnage complete, the Centurion got on his motorcycle and was about to speed off before the police arrived when he noticed that his client, Yang Xiao Long, was still there witness to the carnage that he inflicted.

All this time, Yang was sitting there with her mouth open in shock, having seen the ease at which this mystery man had dispatched the attackers she was under no illusion that she would be able to react in time if he decided to eliminate her to keep things quiet. Much to her surprise and relief, the assailant shook his head and gave a small salute before speeding off into the night, unknown to Yang, during a spin as he had dodged, he had thrown a small knife with an attached message, which had embedded itself in the side of her bike near the back. _Shame, I gave it a new paintjob too._ Was his thought as he drove away.


	20. Turning Point

**Chapter 19: Turning Point**

Yang raced back to Beacon as if a horde of Grimm were chasing her. She brought her bike to a screeching stop as she leapt from it and ran inside, coming to a stop at team RWBY's room, where team GRY happened to be visiting at the time with Grom, Jarek's pet cat was on his lap and was purring with delight while being protected from the menace known as Zwei.

"What's the matter, Yang?" Yankel asked after noticing his comrade out of breath.

Yang panted, bending over to catch her breath. "Faunus….threatened….thugs…...motorcycle race…...guns…..twenty….bang…..boom….no…..survivors…..ran…..here" She gasped out in between breaths.

"Save your breath. Slow down. Just tell us what happened." Jarek said as he along with Blake helped her sit down, noticing her clear fear. If Yang was scared then there was something to fear. After catching her breath, Yang explained everything, from the drag race to the shooting and how the person had left without even touching her.

"At least we got our mystery man." Tex replied optimistically.

"Yeah, and he seems like a real psychopath," Weiss said.

"If he is a psychopath, then why didn't he try to attack Yang? Wouldn't she be a witness to his crime?" Yankel mentioned remembering full well what a true psychopath was after he encountered a particularly brutal Nazi a long time ago in a different world far away.

"So what now?" Tex asked.

"Now? It's 11:12 at night and we're all tired. Now we go to bed and tell Ozpin first thing in the morning." Jarek said and they all went to bed, but not too many people, especially Yang, got much sleep.

First thing in the morning they all trooped into Ozpin's office. After Yang explained what had happened to Ozpin and upon the discovery of the note by Ruby who was silent all this time, the headmaster sighed before speaking. "Well, it seems he wants to meet and if the information on the paper Ms. Rose discovered is correct, then he wants to meet soon and only wants you three there," he said, nodding at team GRY.

"That make sense, he's a Brit. So he'll want to meet us on ground he is familiar with. We'll do it, sir." Tex said.

"Agreed," Jarek said followed by the same word this time from Yankel, going along with his friends.

The three found the location where this mystery British vigilante was supposed waiting for them. They all locked and loaded their respective weapons as a precaution, now all there was was waiting...waiting...and waiting…

"Do you think he'll be here?" Yankel asked Jarek.

"Hopefully." The latter replied, "He didn't kill Yang, so that's a start." Then they waited for a few extra minutes and the nerves were hitting them like a jackhammer. Did they arrive too early? Did they mistake the coordinates he wanted to meet? But by the time the doubts were settling in their minds more firmly, the honk of a horn echoed in their location. The source of the honk revealed itself when an army green jeep strapped with machine guns drove up and parked right in front of them and out stepped a man in a British looking uniform and a red beret armed with the weapons that Yang described, who then approached. Team GRY was a little vigilant about the Brit because he could be insane but the man hadn't drawn his weapons so they were a little more at ease.

"Good to see you, chaps. I was wondering if you were going to make a show," The man said in a distinguishable British accent.

Jarek stepped forward cautiously, keeping an eye on the guy's hands. "We were worried you weren't going to show up at all, it is nice to meet you." he said as he extended his hand. "I am Jarek Gniewek, the one in the overcoat is Yankel Fury and the Texan is Daniel Reed, but we just call him Tex."

 _Jarek Gniewek?_ Ethan thought to himself. _Yup. Definitely him._ "I'm Lieutenant Ethan Gilliam, British Army…." He then extended his hand and accepted the handshake which was surprisingly strong for the slight frame of Jarek.

"Glad to meet you, now on to business as they say. Why did you want to meet us here?"  
Ethan opened up his breast pocket and opened up a small map. He laid it down on the hood of his Jeep.

"You see lads, I have a proposition to make. I hope you all are fully aware of the Nazis presence in Remnant?"

"Indeed, what about them?" Jarek asked, looking at the map as the rest of his team joined him.

"Let's just say that we're not the only ones making Remnant our new home." He started to explain. "The war in our world is over. But I'm afraid another is about to begin. You see, a rouge section of the Nazi party or more specifically, the SS, have escaped from our world and into this one. For some time now, they have been using Mountain Glenn as their home base and they're recruiting loads of anti-White Fang and anti-Faunus humans from all over Remnant. Within days, they're going to launch a major attack on Vale according to the documents I've stolen off a few of their corpses. They've all been indoctrinated into the Nazi ideology and their hell bent to re-establish their Reich in Remnant. In other words, they're not getting weaker." Ethan explained.

Yankel let out a surprisingly inhuman growl as he slammed his fist down on the map. "That cannot happen! I won't let it happen!" He half-shouted.

"And we're not going to let it happen." Ethan assured. "I've made a number of recon missions across all of their present known locations. I've come across one of their major bases, their main aircraft hub. They hold Me 262-Bs, updated versions of the prop less jet they've built before they got here along with a number of Remnant built aircraft they produced in the time since they arrived. That base, known as Facility-01, is the bulk of their air arm. Without it, their offensive will stop before it even starts."

Jarek gave a grin and looked at the heavily armed jeep. "And I take it you have a plan involving this jeep and giving the Germans a very bad day."

"You're catching on, Jarek. So, the plan is relatively simple. There's an opening in this location here, but they have a lot of search lights strewn all over the damned place. Thankfully I have a little something already in place that will shut all their power down for several minutes, giving us the perfect opportunity to strike." He pointed to a location on the map. "We're going to drive there. Then, once we're in, we're going to charge through the gate and shoot everything in sight. Destroy as much aircraft as possible, kill as much personal as possible, short and sweet, we're going to cause chaos. Then, once completed, were going to infiltrate their main facility. It's rumored that they house a number of prisoners in that location. If we can get to them. We'll have independent witnesses to speak of Nazi brutality. Once we get as many poor folk out of there as we can, we're going to drive out before the Jerrys knew what hit 'em and have time to counter us. This won't stop the Nazis for good but it certainly will make them think twice before Vale suffers the same fate as France or Russia. Even if they do recover, by that time adequate Atlas military forces will arrive for the tournament coming up in the next couple of months. That should be enough to deter the Nazis from attempting another assault, at least in the near future."

Jarek and the rest of the team were nodding with expressions ranging from gleeful joy at the prospect of attacking the Germans to expressions of steely determination.

"So what happens after that?" Tex asked, speaking all their minds.

Ethan, brought up short by the question, paused for a few seconds, then answered. "Two things. And it depends on what you want to do. Either I'll drive to a Vale Police Station and turn myself into the local authorities. Or, if you want, we'll drive back to your Beacon place and turn my surrender over to the faculty there. I heard that your Professor Ozpin has a great deal of power in Vale."

"You bet your ass he does, now for the most important part; shotgun!" Tex said.

"Drive to Beacon when this is over, we'll sort it out from there," Jarek said as they all piled into the Jeep as Tex climbed into the shotgun seat.

"Excellent. Let's blast the Boche back to Berlin." Ethan happily declared before getting into the driver's seat and once they're all strapped in, Ethan gunned the engine as he drove them to the Nazi base to hopefully save thousands of lives by pre-empting an attack on Vale by the Nazi party. It was at that moment, Ethan became a member of the Huntsmen team despite not officially enrolled in Beacon, not yet at least. It was no longer team GRY nor a one man mission, this was a war and this, was team GREY.


	21. For King and Country

**Chapter 20: For King and Country**

Team GREY with Ethan's light armored car of a Willy's Jeep navigated their way through the eerie maze of ruins that constituted Mountain Glenn. It was dark out, But Ethan did not dare to put on his blinkers or even flash his lights on. He was certain that if he did so, then the Germans would most likely notice. Nowadays the Nazis are lord and master of Mountain Glenn, a title that they reluctantly shared with the local Grimm in the area. It took just a mere half an hour of back tracking and Ethan was able to get out of the ruined city and into the forest beyond. There, a good forty miles away, was where Facility-01 was located. Within days, they were going to launch a Blitzkrieg attack on Vale, it would be total and complete. There would be nothing left of the former kingdom, and in its place the Fourth Reich would rise in its ashes. That is, if Team GREY didn't achieve the mission that Ethan proposed.

"So what the hell is taking so long?" Tex demanded causally. "We should have been there ages ago."

"Facility-01 is located a good distance away from Vale. The Nazis as you know think all too far ahead in advance. Besides, they don't really want anything or anybody snooping about."

"Some things never change. Those bastards are too well organized for their own good" Jarek remarked as he was leaning against the Browning M2 .50s that served as the Jeeps main armament. After that, things were all too quiet in the armored Jeep. The biggest thing that Tex noticed, as he was perhaps the only person who ever rode in one before today, that despite the light armor on the wheels, front, and other areas, and the fact that it resembled more of an armored car than a mobile vehicle, it was still surprisingly fast. Tex concluded that this Lieutenant Gillam must have modified this jeep extensively. Perhaps for this very purpose, but that was all he really considered.

Yankel on the other hand, who manned the rear loophole and poked out his Buzzsaw, was only thinking on the revenge that he was going to inflict on those bastards that destroyed his life. Now what he craved was doing the exact thing to them. Jarek had similar emotions to that however he was more concerned for the future, rather than the past. He wanted to ensure that Vale, his new home, Blake, and everyone in Beacon was safe from the fascist menace that was arguably worse than Grimm. He was apprehensive about the whole thing. He had heard rumors of the LRDG (Long Range Desert Group) from illegal radio broadcasts back in Poland. He remembered how they would infiltrate behind enemy lines in cars laden with machine guns of all types and shoot up all the aircraft they could find. This is was essentially the same thing, but wouldn't the Germans learn from those very same mistakes?

By the time Jarek had that thought, a huge array of lights could be seen directly in front of them, Facility-01, as the jeep came to a stop. Then suddenly, he was tapped on the shoulder. Jarek looked to his left and it was Ethan.

"Want to take a look?" He asked holding a pair of binoculars from Earth. He took the binoculars and pressed them against his eyes and what he saw astonished him beyond belief. Facility-01 was a massive air facility that seem to stretch a good nine square miles across the open forest. There he could see black dots scrambling around like frightened hens milling about with what seemed to be hundreds of aircraft of all types being prepared. It made him shudder.

"What the hell is with the lights?" Jarek asked the lieutenant. "The Boche and the White Fang have been going at it lately. The Nazis are aware of the Faunus ability to see in the dark, they want to negate that as much as possible. Funny and bit hypocritical if you think about it. They claimed themselves to be the 'Master Race' yet they're so fearful of an ability that they do not themselves possess, so much for Aryan supremacy." All of them chuckle at the remark while the armored car stood in idle, even Yankel got a laugh at it. Afterwards the atmosphere of anxiety came back, and they waited while Ethan was looking at a very elaborate looking old style silver pocket watch which bore a shield of some kind.

"What are we waiting for? When can we kill them?" Yankel demanded as he possessed the dreaded itchy trigger finger.

"Just wait….wait….." It was clear that Ethan was waiting for something. But what? What was he waiting for? Then suddenly, the whole of the lights in the Facility were knocked out. In the instant that followed, distant cries of distress in a language alien to this world could be heard.

"Now we can go, lads." He said before putting his pocket watch back followed by the gunning of the engines, tearing down the hill and running straight into the fenced airfield and the fence was ripped open by the armored car at full speed and found itself right in the middle of the chaos.

"You know what to do!" And everyone's machine guns roared like the massive beasts they are. Ethan drove like a madman as his gunners shot up all the aircraft parked on the ground. The .50 caliber machine guns had some type of special ammo that would shoot through anything and everything. Nearly every single aircraft had exploded in large balls of fire. It seemed that in this sea of chaos that Team GREY were the only people who knew what they were trying to do: Cry havoc.

Jarek couldn't remember everything, he was busy shooting everyone and everything wearing the dreaded blackened uniforms of the new Nazi Party. Aircraft were quickly combusting faster than kids playing with firecrackers. It was absolute chaos and explosions. For Tex, it was more fun than a turkey shoot. It seemed that the Nazis didn't know what was hitting them. Unfortunately for GREY, some of the Nazis were able to figure out what was occurring and attempted to shoot at the armored car that was intruding on their new Reich but the car was too fast for them to do any significant damage to the car, they only really scratched the paint if anything.

After a few more minutes of driving and gunning, the entirety of the aircraft were now in shambles and many personnel were dead. Ethan drove his armored car to the main building in the center, which was where the Nazi headquarters were located. Once they were in front of the facility, Ethan shouted for everyone to dismount and they all headed straight to the main entrance. They moved to the main door in a semi-circle formation. Ethan opened the front door in a tight angle allowing Tex to throw in a grenade then five seconds later the whole front hall exploded as the grenade went off and they all stormed in shooting anything that so much as twitched.

"Where are the prisoners? Shouldn't we hold our fire?" Jarek shouted amidst all of the carnage to Ethan.

"They're on the fourth floor according to what I've heard, c'mon lads!" And onwards they went, moving up the stairs and going room by room and moving straight to where the alleged prisoners were located. They were in a race against time as they all knew that the chaos was going to only last so long. The Nazis at any moment could rally and trap them within the building. It wasn't long before they came across a simple five by five square room that seemed to have no significant meaning, but a gas masked Nazi, who had been occupying that cramped space, seemingly on guard, tried to stab Ethan. Ethan managed to pin him down on the desk and unholstered his Webley Mk. VI revolver and pointed it right into his temple.

"Where are the prisoners?" All he got were snarling growls from the fascist bastard. He repeated the same sentence in German. Once again a defiant response. To finally break him, Ethan turned to Tex. "Hand me one of your shotgun rounds, burn Dust." He said, holding out his hand, into which Tex placed the asked for item. Reaching down, Ethan tore the gas mask off the man and chucked it aside. Making sure that the man was held securely, he broke open the burn Dust shell, careful not to get the substance on himself. Turning back to the man, he produced a feral grin as he gently tipped a small amount of the volatile Dust onto the man's cheek. Ethan had discovered, quite accidentally and painfully, that burn Dust had an interesting property to it when it made contact with bare skin, which the man learned firsthand as he screamed as the Dust burned and bubbled the skin, inflicting severe pain and most assuredly scarring the man.

"Okay...They are in the next room. With the steel door." The Nazi answered in accented English, his voice hoarse and weak.

"Thank you, you rotten son of a bitch." Ethan then proceeded to pistol whip the Nazi knocking, him out.

"Yankel, get to the door, open it in any way you can." Ethan mentioned. Yankel was all too happy to oblige. Yankel moved on to the next room, with Tex giving him cover. It was a nondescript door just like everything else in this Germanic and Gothic looking hallway. The Jew tried to open up with a simple tug, didn't work of course, it never does. He tried knocking off the doorknob with his Buzzsaw buttstock, which didn't work either. Finally, Yankel activated his flame thrower attachment that was recently added by Argent. He stepped back and lit the handle up, melting off the tough door knob with its intense heat. Then Yankel kicked the heavy door open and he found a completely dark room. All he could hear was soft cries of despair that could pierce the hardness in anyone's soul.

Yankel grabbed a crimson flare from one of his pouches. Every member of Team GREY had at least five at hand, save Ethan, who carried more. He activated it to provide light, and the scene it revealed made him sick to his stomach.

The room he had busted into was larger than most of the other rooms in the complex, but not much. In some cases lying down, in others held upright by the chains that bound them to the wall, was a large group of Faunus, all female. From the smell it was obvious they and the room itself had not been so much as sprayed with a hose, nor had the prisoners been given any choice other than to perform the necessary functions in the room itself. The Faunus themselves were all undernourished, Yankel could easily count the ribs on each one.

A thought he quickly squashed was the observation that several showed obvious signs of having been used…forcefully. Those with ears had had those same appendages cut and mutilated and all of them, without fail, showed signs of severe torture and beatings. What threatened to liberate Yankel of the contents of his stomach most was the large number of those who obviously once _had_ Faunus traits that manifested as some appendage or another, though now had nothing but bloody stumps, if anything at all, remained. Those who were both conscious and had enough power to do so turned to look at him.

In most eyes, Yankel saw one of two things; fear, or a soul crushing, pure emptiness, their spirits broken by the abuse they had suffered. He saw in perhaps three pairs a small flicker of defiance, but no more than that. Swearing he let his Buzzsaw hang from its sling and rushed over to the ones chained upright first, taking his partisan blade styled weapon and hacking at the simple chains, quickly breaking through them before gently lowering the Faunus thus liberated to the ground.

"I promise you, I will get you all out of here," he said to the group of them, which picked up a few heads. The last one he freed from the wall had long brown hair with sky blue eyes and slightly pale skin tone and was missing half of her right deer ear. Yankel's blood boiled with rage as he gently set her down before twitching at a noise and drawing the Tokarev Jarek had given him when he replaced it with his father's Vis.35 and pointed it towards the door. Determined to protect the Faunus he had found before relaxing as he saw it was the rest of his team.

"Yankel, what did y-" Jarek asked before breaking off with a choked gasp as he saw the room. Ethan shared his reaction while Tex promptly threw up.

"Talk later, I promised them I'd get them out. I don't care if I have to kill every Nazi and then spend the rest of the night carrying them back on foot!" Yankel, his voice soft but full of barely contained rage. By now a few of the Faunus had managed to stand and were helping others do the same.

"Please…...some of us can walk but others…." One of them said softly, her gaze resting on a pair of Faunus who had obviously had had traits that manifested as legs of some kind, judging by the bloody stumps they now had at mid-thigh. Jarek swore softly before turning to Ethan.

"Anything here we can use to get them all out?" He asked, dreading his answer.

"Not that I can think of, the vehicles here were never meant to carry more than four at maximum, and they've all been shot to pieces in any event," Ethan said softly. Hearing this, Yankel growled and slammed his fist against the wall.

"Then either we figure something out, or we kill the Nazis and start hauling." He spat, turning to help some of the Faunus.

It was at this point team GREY heard the sounds of gunfire pick up again outside, which sent Jarek, Ethan, and Tex running to a window and looking out. The Nazis were firing upwards as bursts from some kind of Dust weaponry answered, outlining in flashes of light the Skyship _Oum._ In the underside a hatch opened and three shapes fell from it. The first untucked itself and hit the ground with a concussive boomas Adam stood and drew his sword, charging forward with a roar. The second to land first pulled out an object that quickly proved to be a bow before quickly firing five arrows which then between them formed a symbol which seemed to absorb the blow of landing before Sinéad rapidly began firing her arrows at any available targets. The third and final form spun as it landed, the tattered cloak it wore whirling around it as it stood fully upright, a pair of crescent moon blades now in his hands as Argent ran forward.

"It's the seventh cavalry!" Tex whooped as Sinéad and Adam broke off, running towards the building, reaching team GREY in under a minute. Adam turned to watch the door as Sinéad walked over.

"Thank goodness Ozpin asked us to follow you," she said before her eyes caught sight of the horrors team GREY had discovered and her motherly smile quickly changed to a cold look of rage that sent a chill to Team GREY's heart. "Briseadh agus brú ar do chnámha!" she cursed softly in a dead Remnant dialect, spitting on the corpse of a nearby Nazi, his uniform bearing the Swastika cross. She quickly went to help Yankel get the Faunus on their feet, using dust to heal what she could and radiating a calm and kind aura as Adam looked over at team GREY. "Do not worry, we'll get them out of here."

After several minutes, the Faunus capable of walking were on their feet and those that couldn't were being carried by team GREY, Sinéad, and in the case of Adam, they had fashioned a sling of sorts so that in addition to the two he carried, one in either arm, another two on his back. Slowly they made their way down and out of the building, meeting Argent outside. Argent had just finished taking care of the Germans, as was obvious by the multiple bodies and the two bound figures on the ground behind him. "Figured they might be ussseful," he said as he flicked his two crescents in an arc, creating a perfect circle of blood around him which he stepped out of.

"Argent, glad you could make it," Jarek said, smiling briefly in greeting.

"Indeed, I jussst wissh it wasss under better cirumssstancesss," he answered before hoisting the two captives roughly to their feet before pulling an odd dust crystal out and flaring his aura around it, causing the crystal to light up brightly, signaling Gold to drop the ropes, this time they dropped connected to a large net like contraption and a little bit away a similar net but smaller. Those on the ground then began to help the Faunus into the net as Argent and Sinéad grabbed onto the ropes on the side as the net rose once all were aboard, Yankel riding up with the Faunus, wanting to keep an eye on the deer Faunus he had helped. The rest of team GREY turned to Adam.

"So what's with the smaller net?" Tex asked the giant of a man.

"It is for your friend's vehicle," Adam answered before riding a rope up as well. Ethan smiled and jogged over to the jeep and drove it onto the net before hopping out and grabbing onto the remaining three ropes.

"Well chaps, an eventful night, eh?" He asked before the three of them were whisked skyward with the soft whine of a winch.


	22. On The Order of His Majesty

**Chapter 21: On The Orders From His Majesty's Government**

About two hours later, the _Oum_ had docked at Beacon and they were met immediately by a medical team who rushed the Faunus off, Yankel following the stretcher the deer Faunus was on while Glynda quickly walked up as SAGA dispersed.

Glynda looked over the two registered members of team GREY who remained and the one unknown. Who happened to be hanging out at a strange looking vehicle and appeared to be tinkering with it. His outfit consisted of a grimy looking helmet and strange looking mix of green and khaki of some kind. It seemed a little archaic and old fashioned.

"And just who are you?" she demanded. The unknown person saluted to her and acted as if he was expecting to be debriefed after a mission.

"Lieutenant Ethan Gilliam, His Majesty's Royal Centurions…" Glynda squinted as the strange title was followed by a pause as unknown man identified himself. She waited, but he seemed like he was not going to continue.

"And just what meaning do you expect me to gain from that?" She asked.

"Nothing actually. I'm better known to you as that pesky little vigilante you've been looking for for some months. Oh and I forgot..." He un-holstered his pistol, a revolver by the looks of it and flips it to where the grip faced Glynda.

Glynda blinked before accepting the pistol and putting it in a pocket before pointing at him. "Follow me. Now. You two, go join your teammate." she said, talking to Jarek and Tex with the last of what she said before she began walking, expecting him to follow, which he did.

After a short while, they stopped before the door to Ozpin's office. Glynda knocked on the door and Ozpin told her to enter. Walking in, she looked over at Ozpin. "This man claims to be the one we've been looking for," she explained to Ozpin.

"I see, please, leave us, I'd like talk to him," Ozpin said, at which Glynda nodded before setting the revolver she had been given on his desk and then walked out, closing the door behind her.

"So young man, who are you?" Ozpin asked, sipping from his mug. Ethan wasted no breath "I am Lieutenant Ethan Gilliam, His Majesty's Royal Centurions, at your service."

Ozpin cocked an eyebrow as he looked back at him. "Indeed. Then I hope you won't mind explaining what exactly you're doing here."

"Well...Do you enjoy stories by any chance Professor Ozpin?"

"You might say that, please, continue." Ozpin said, gesturing for him to go on.

"I'll assume that your earthly huntsmen explained to you the war that's occurring in the world that we came from, let's start from there. The war that is known as the Second World War came to an end a few weeks ago going by Earth's time. Our enemies, Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, have both officially surrendered. But I'm afraid that it took two nuclear bombs to do it. They are both now under Allied Occupation and Germany has been divided into zones of occupation. Our world now conspires to rebuild as we speak. However, I'm afraid to say that another war is due to begin…" The mysterious Centurion explained vaguely.

Ozpin listened intently, sipping from his mug. "Is that a threat, Mr. Gilliam?"

"No, sir. It is not...It is in fact a warning…" Ethan explained. "You see...a certain faction of Germans have decided not to concede defeat, but rather escape justice and flee to this world. They are known as the Fourth Reich...and it is these people that now threaten your Kingdom and warring with the terrorist faction known as the White Fang over territory. They intend to establish the ideology that has plagued my world for twelve years and bring that very same misery upon Remnant...and destroy everything you hold dear." Ethan explained plainly and rather grimly.

Ozpin listened with a grave expression to Ethan's words before sighing. "If what you say is true, then we will need to be ready. Now on to you, you have been busy and made quite a name for yourself in Vale. I take it to mean those you killed were a part of this Fourth Reich you were talking about." He asked.

"That is correct, Professor." Ethan confirmed.

"And I take it you were acting under orders?" Ozpin asked

"Yes I am." Was all Ethan said.

"And from whom did these orders come from?" Ozpin inquired.

"From the highest authority of my Kingdom."

Ozpin cocked an eyebrow at the term 'Kingdom'. As far as he had noticed, with Mr. Gniewek and Mr. Fury had mentioned that 'Poland' the land both of which came from was referred to as a 'Republic' not a Kingdom. It was by definition a government of the people. Even Mr. Reed kept repeating the term 'Republic' and occasionally ranting over something about a man named George which only Oobleck could really understand. From what history the professor was able to deduce, was that most of their world's 'countries' were once kingdoms, but they were for the most part overthrown and gave way for governments of the people, but this?

"And what exactly is this kingdom you speak of?"

"The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. My Kingdom, sir, as you would put it, the Kingdom that I'm from and represent." Ethan explained.

Ozpin cocked his head. "I'll have to ask you for more on that at a later date, for now I need to ask you an important question that will determine what happens to you when you leave this room. The way I see it, you have two options, you can walk out of here and be turned over immediately to the authorities in Vale to answer for several counts of murder….." Ozpin trailed off.

 _Called it._ Ethan anticipated in his mind.

"Or you can accept my offer to join Beacon as a part of team GRY and all charges against you will be dropped." Ozpin finished. Ethan gave out the greatest of grins that English gentlemen were permitted.

"It's been awhile since I attended school…"

Ozpin smiled before taking a sip from his mug. "Excellent, please, follow my weaponsmaster to his forge, he shall help you upgrade your arsenal." Ozpin said as Argent walked in and nodded at Ethan.

"So this is your weaponsmaster I assume?" Ethan guessed, putting two and two together.

"Indeed, that isss my title, pleassse follow me." Argent said before he turned and began to walk out. Ethan soon followed him throughout the school, at this point, Ethan switched from his helmet to his unique bright but dusty red beret with the badge of a lion holding a sword which is the emblem of HMRC. On the way there, he was looked upon with curiosity and interest by his new classmates. _It's rather funny isn't it?_ The Centurion thought to himself. _I just graduated from a combat school only to enter into one!_

Argent soon led him to his forge, before turning to him. "Alright then, place your weaponsss on that table over there and letsss get ssstarted." He said. Ethan then placed his Lee Enfield No.4 Mk I, Webley Mk. VI and Welrod pistol. He then paused to reach for something within his clothes and produced strange pieces of metal and slowly putting them together.

"Interesssting armamentsss. I can make the two pissstolsss into one, the rifle I can upgrade, but what isss it you're doing?" He asked.

"You see...I'm assembling a piece of crud known to my world as the Sten Mk. II submachine gun." He explained while he still assembled the whole thing together. "It fires around four hundred and fifty rounds per minute, feeding from a thirty-two round magazine from the left side and, costs two pounds six shillings to make. To put that into perspective. That would be roughly equivalent to about twenty to thirty Lien." He explained after putting the barrel shroud together and loading an empty magazine and placing it onto the table. "That is what this is. It happens to be easily assembled and concealed as I just demonstrated."

"A clever desssign nonethelesss, I believe I can make that and your rifle one gun." Argent said.

"Excellent. I expected nothing less from the finest weapon smith in Remnant."

Argent nodded and shrugged off his cloak before turning to his forge. "Very well, I sshall be finisshed in a few daysss." He said before turning to his work in an obvious dismissal.

After getting his room assignment, and instructions from Ozpin to deliver all of his gear to that room, Ethan went back to his American built Willy's Jeep where he ran into someone familiar who was inspecting what she perceived to be a strange vehicle.

"It's good to see you again, Miss Xiao Long." Ethan said to his former client, using the voice of Robbie to give her something familiar. "It's a rather strange turn of events, isn't it?" The last sentence was when he switched to his normal British accent.

Yang turned at the sound of a familiar voice that turned unfamiliar. "Robbie? What are you doing here? And what's with your voice?" She asked.

Ethan was unsure how to explain this, how he lived a double life. But he'd do his best.

"It's rather complicated. You know me as Robby Smythe, the unassuming bike mechanic. That is just my false identity. My name is actually Ethan...Ethan Gilliam, and I'm from the same world as Team GRY and this is my normal voice."

Yang blinked then broke into her characteristic grin. "Well Ro-I mean Ethan, I must say I like the new voice, sends pleasant little shivers up the spine," she said with a flirtatious wink.

"It takes a bit of effort to imitate a Valeian accent." He said.

Yang smirked and crossed her arms. "And does everyone in your kingdom sound like this? Because if they do it sounds like a wonderfully enjoyable place," she said while waggling her eyebrows in her normal flirtatious manner

Ethan chuckled slightly.

"Do you fancy rain and meat pies?" The Centurion asked.

Yang shrugged, not particularly caring either way. "So why are you down here Ethan?" She asked.

"Unfinished business." He said vaguely and in general terms.

Yang chuckled. "Is that right? So you've decided to join Beacon then?"

"It was offered by Headmaster Ozpin as an alternative to prison. Needless to say I took up his offer."

Yang smiled and leaned in, entirely ignoring personal space. "Good, I hear Vale prison has horrible time slots for conjugal visits," she said with a smirk before sauntering away to Team RWBY's room.

Ethan blushed madly and stammered something approaching a farewell. _Bloody hell, quite a lady isn't she? She wouldn't have made it back in England, would have been swarmed by suitors every time she stepped out the door. Then yet again that's the very reason I agreed to this mission anyway, to get away from the madness of home._ A young woman dressed in white wandered in, having gone for a walk to clear her head.

Ethan then suddenly remember that he had a thermos can full of English tea he brewed earlier this morning. Being rather thirsty, he decided to get it out and poured himself a portion of the tea into his mug with the teabag into it and took a sip, the euphoria of the smell of tea quickly permeating his body and the white dressed girl seemed to take notice.

Weiss saw the strange young man as he pulled out a thermos and arched her eyebrow then her eyes widened as she smelled a familiar scent and she quickly walked over. "Excuse me, but is that tea?" She asked him.

"Indeed it is, Miss. My last brew of Lipton. Shame I don't have any more after this batch, though. I confess that it's a bit on the cheap side unfortunately."

Weiss cocked her eyebrow. "Never heard of that brand, where did you get that from?" She asked.

"I'm afraid it's unavailable in Remnant, it's a brand native to the same world that your Team GRY came from." Ethan explained.

Weiss blinked then smiled as she threw her hands up in triumph. "Finally someone cultured!" She said in satisfaction and that is when Team GRY came looking for Ethan.

"Hey Ethan, Headmaster Ozpin wants to see us all and what do you mean finally Weiss?" Tex called out.

Ethan finished his cup of tea before turning to Weiss. "Ah, duty calls Ms. Schnee, farewell," he said as he put away his thermos and followed Team GRY on their way to Ozpin's office.

' _Wait, did he say my name?'_ Weiss wondered at his retreating form.

Team GRY and Ethan quickly made their way to the top of Ozpin's tower where they knocked before being admitted.

"Ah gentlemen, I have many matters to attend to so I'll be brief; Team GRY, you're a team short a man and Mr. Gilliam here is from the same world as you all, as such, I have decided to make you a full-fledged team. Congratulations, Team GREY, the oddest team I have seen in my time here," Ozpin told them.

After leaving Ozpin's office the four men split off, Yankel left in the direction of the med bay, intending to check on the deer Faunus from before while Tex went to find Weiss and Jarek went to find Blake as Ethan broke off to go to the vehicle bay to check on his jeep.

Yankel made his way to the medical wing, letting the doctor in charge know who he was and his part in saving the large group of Faunus that had been brought in. He asked after a deer Faunus, describing her by her injuries, missing half of her right Faunus ear, and a pattern of scars on her arms and legs, quickly being pointed to the bed of Lily Dapple. Yankel carefully wound his way through the field of wounded in beds before taking a chair beside the currently unconscious woman. Sitting forward he observed the woman, her face, even in the repose of sleep, seemingly drawn tight with worry, something he couldn't stand, a woman as beautiful as her should always be smiling. Yankel reaches forward and gently tries to brush some of her hair off her face when her hand weakly comes up to grab his wrist. " _No...please_." came the soft whisper, her eyes, a brilliant blue, turning to look at him, too defeated to put up any more of a fight. Yankel smiles gently, kindly as he lets her hold his hand back before he whispered softly, soothingly, "The nightmare is over."

Meanwhile Tex had found Weiss in team RWBY's dorm, having decided it was time to figure out where exactly they stood with one another. "So what was it you wanted to ask me Tex?" Weiss asked him, arching one eyebrow expectantly.

"Well Weiss, I wanted to set things straight. I think so far both of us have realized that there is somethin' about the way we interact, somethin' that's different from how teammates interact. So my question is, what is this, Weiss?" Tex said, having steeled his nerve to address the elephant in the room.

Weiss blinked, then her thoughts turned inward examining his words and the truth to them. She too had noticed the difference, the sort of tension between both of them, the looks held just a bit longer, the smiles just a bit wider. All of these led Weiss to an almost unbelievable conclusion; they had feelings for one another. Weiss, always a fan of honesty amongst friends, sighed and looked at Tex. "If you want the honest truth Tex, I think we both have feelings for one another. How they developed and why I think neither of us know but since we're being honest, I will admit you are not unpleasing to look at and I find something about your staunch code of morals and willingness to defend everyone you care for to be attractive qualities. Simply put Tex since I appreciate getting to the point, if you are want to, I am willing to try and see where a relationship might go." Weiss said, looking pointedly at the Texan.

Tex, for his part, was stunned. Not because of the fact he had feelings for Weiss, he had accepted that already, and it wasn't at her accurate summation of his character. No, it was that she was willing to give him a chance. Him out of all people! A man without a fortune behind him or a cultured background to call his own. He of could of course see only one response and so he gave it. "You bet yer ass I'm willing to try Weiss."

Jarek had located Blake in the library, practically Blake's third home, the first being RWBY's dorm and the second being GREY's dorm. He found her in a small alcove near the back, having sequestered herself to attempt to read the newest book in her Ninjas of Love series; Ronin and Redheads.

"Hey, Blake. Sorry that I had to leave on short notice earlier today without telling you…" He trailed off, not sure what to say. Blake, for her part, acted at first as if she hadn't heard him before sighing and putting her bookmark in place before closing her book.

"You had me worried, Jarek. You disappeared for hours, then all I hear is that the _Oum_ came into dock with dozens of wounded Faunus who had been saved by team GRY and some stranger. I didn't know if you were hurt or not, all I heard was one of team GRY went to the infirmary as well, I spent the next half an hour trying to make sure it wasn't you in there. Then I go to find Yang and she hasn't seen any of you. I go to Goodwitch and she says she saw you but not where you went and then-" Blake ranted, having risen to her feet and invaded Jarek's personal space, practically shouting before Jarek cut her off with a kiss, his arms coming around her. Finally breaking the kiss after a good forty-five seconds, he gazed into her amber orbs.

"I'm sorry I worried you Blake, I never meant to scare you but I promised you once and I will repeat it every day I see your face, I am not going to die until you say so, not a day before, I promise." He said, resting his forehead against hers.

Blake's cat ears, freed from her bow, drooped slightly as her eyes welled with tears, pulling him tight against her in a hug. They stood there a few minutes, Jarek and Blake just holding one another, reassuring themselves the other was there.

"Alright, now that we have taken care of that, give me a minute, and I will tell you everything that has happened…" Jarek began.

Ethan had made his way back to Beacon's garage, looking to check on his jeep when he spotted a familiar mass of blond hair. Smiling, he made his way over to Yang as she worked on her bike, singing softly to herself as she worked. "-standing too close to a flame that's burning...I burn! Can't hold me now…" she kept singing as Ethan stopped beside her. Ethan cleared his throat before speaking. "You might want to use a different tool for that." He said.

Yang started, banging her head against the side of Bumblebee, swearing softly as she turned to look at him. "For Oum's sake Ethan, don't sneak up on me like that!" she said as she stood up.

Ethan grinned before responding. "Sorry about that. Should have given you a better warning. But I have a few confessions to make to you." He started.

Yang cocked her head as she wiped some grease from her hands. "Confessions? What d'ya mean?" She asked him, leaning against her bike.

Ethan continued. "Remember the bloke that you dragged race with two days ago? Where he stopped and gunned down a bunch of those strange looking thugs that were harassing a Faunus family?"

Yang began to nod then froze. "Wait. How do you know about that?" She said, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

Ethan froze in tension, about to forcefully reveal a truth, to potentially alienate Yang "...That was me…" was all he could say.

Yang twitched then leaned in to look at him. "Really? That explains the race but what about those thugs, sure they were scum for messing with those Faunus but wasn't lethal force a bit much?" She asked.

"Did you hear of the Faunus in the med bay?"

"Yeah. Terrible what happened to them, why?" Yang asked.

"A similar fate would have awaited that family had I not stopped them. What I've done may have looked a little excessive, but the Nazis are well known in my world for excessive cruelty."

Yang looked horrified as she contemplated what he said. "Even the kids?" Ethan gently nodded. "Those monsters, I take it back, you didn't make them suffer enough." Yang said, a look of anger in her eyes. Then she frowned at Ethan. "However, you did do something unforgivable Ethan."

Ethan flinched slightly under Yang's glare before sheepishly rubbing the back of his head. "Throwing the knife into the side of your bike?" He guessed.

Yang nodded her head. "Bingo buddy. I am not an evil woman though, I figure you fixing my bike, free of charge, for the next six months, is proper compensation for both the damage and the emotional trauma." Yang said, smirking at the end.

"Fair enough. I should have seen this coming faster than the bloody Spanish Armada. I'll even compensate you for what it cost to have that fixed."

Yang smiled and slung an arm around Ethan's shoulders. "You've got yourself a deal." She said.

Later that night, when everyone else was asleep, Ethan was not, even though he was a little tired something really was bothering him. Now that he was out of the shadows, Ethan could now do something that he really wanted to do since he came into this world. On his body armor, exposed by combat against the Fourth Reich, and his jacket, Ethan had sewn on two Union Jack patches that were hiding in his breast pocket. On directly on the armor, and the other on the shoulder patch. The war against the Fourth Reich is going to begin and Ethan wanted to let the Nazis know who they were fighting against. While he finished with the last thread, the Centurion began to wonder how many lives are going to be lost in this fight. How much destruction will occur? But no matter what happens, even if the whole of the world is destroyed, the Nazis must be defeated and for good, or at the very least contained and prevented from going into the world he left behind. If they fail and the Fourth Reich takes over Remnant, then the world will be in for a terrible revenge. A moment after remembering this, Ethan assured himself that the Nazis have been defeated before, and they will be again. Once he finished, he went back to his bunk to sleep. A new life awaited for him when the sun rose again.


End file.
